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ISSUED FEBRUARY, 1906.

CASSINIA

An Annual Devoted to the Ornithology of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, ond Deloware.

CONTENTS 1905.

Charles Lucien Bonaparte (portrait)

Summer Birds of Broadhead's Creek, Monroe Co., Pa.

Breeding of the Florida Gallinule {Gallinula galeaia)

in Philadelphia County
The Media Grackle Roost (plate)
The Overbrook Grackle Roost
June Birds of Fulton County, Pa.
Summer Birds of Milford, Pike County, Pa.
Report on the Spring Migration of 1905
City Ornithology
Abstract of the Proceedings of the Delaware Valley

Ornithological Club for 1905
Bibliography 1905
Bird Club Notes

List of Officers and Members of the D. V. O. C. 1906
Index

Spencer Trotter

I

Cornelius Weygandt

6

Richard F. Miller

24

Sanford Omensetter

33

C. J. Peck

36

Witmer Stone

40

E. Seymour Woodruff

45

Witmer Stone

52

68

69

77

80

82

87

PUBLICATIONS OF THE D. V. O. C.

The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvajoia and New Jersey, by Witmer
Stone, pp. 176 with two maps and portrait of Alex.
Wilson. One Dollar (Post paid $1.12)

Abstroct of Proceedings, Full Set Nos. I-IV. (1890-1900) pp. 98, Fifty cents
Cossinio, published annually beginning with 1901 ; comprising
papers relating to the Ornithology of Pennsylvania
and New Jersey and an abstract of the proceedings
of the Club. Edited by Witmer Stone. Subscrip-
tion price Fifty cents

Addreis Delaware Valley Ornithological Club^

c.r. Academy of Natural Sciences,

Logan Square, Philadelphia.

CASSINIA

n- ^ ?, \^^

PROCEEDINGS OF THE DELAWARE VALLEY
ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB

No. IX. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1905.

Charles Lucien Bonaparte

BY SPENCER TROTTER

In one of his essays Emerson speaks of the interest that we
take in a man who has some pursuit in life otlier than that
which appears upon the surface of his daily affairs. The most
common-place fellow is seen in a new light when we find that
behind the business or professional face there lurks a knowledge
of birds, or botany, or butterflies. This view of the personality
of a man becomes still more interesting when his name is asso-
ciated with that of deeds vastly different from the quiet pursuit
of a science.

Here is one whose name conjures up the thought of empire
and the pageant of war, but whose joy in life was far removed
from such vainglories. To most minds there is but one Bona-
parte. As a young ornithologist I used to connect the name of
BonaiMrte's Gull with that of Le Petit Caporal and it was some-
what of a surprise, one of those agreeable surprises, to find that
a near kinsman of the emperor was an ornithologist.

The subject of this sketch was the eldest son of Lucien Bona-
parte, brother of Napoleon, and Charles was therefore a nephew
of the emperor. He was born in Paris on the 24th of May,

2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

1803, and christened Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte.
Neither Lucien nor his son Charles appears to have acquired that
lust of power which characterized the emperor, though Charles
was more or less active in certain reform movements after he
had settled in Italy. Lucien, the father, was a man of scien-
tific and literary attainments, and though active in French
politics during the Emperor's prosperity he later retired and
made his residence in Italy. His line was excluded by Najio-
leon in his scheme for establishing his brothers on the European
thrones. In 1814, Pope Pius VII made him Prince of Canino, a
title, together with that of Prince of Musignano, which Charles
assumed after his father's death. Joseph Bonaparte, elder
brother of Napoleon and Lucien, and created King of Spain by
Napoleon, fled to America after Waterloo and settled at Borden-
town, N. J., and also took up his residence in Philadelphia,
where he occupied a house on Ninth street above Spruce. This
house is now the home of a personal friend of the writer and has
suffered little change in the lapse of time. Charles joined his
uncle Joseph in America (probably about 1822) and married
his first cousin, Zenaide, Joseph's eldest daughter. In 1825
Princeton University conferred upon him the honorary degree
of Master of Arts, though he apparently never attended the
college as a student. He left this countrj' in 1827, when he
took up his residence in Italy, where he spent the remainder of
his life, engaged in scientific, mainly ornithological work. He
died in Paris on the 29th of July, 1857.

During his few years' residence in and near Philadelphia
Charles Lucien Bonaparte, then a young man in his early
twenties, was engaged in the study of ornithology and in the
preparation of his work — the continuation of Wilson's "Amer-
ican Ornithology." These four volumes have always associated
his name with that of Alexander Wilson, though the latter died
when Bonaparte was but a lad ten years of age, and before
he had set foot in America. With Audubon, however, Charles
was personally acquainted. He first met the "backwoods-
man" when the latter was in Philadelphia taking painting
lessons under the artist Thomas Sully and seeking a possible
publisher for his great work. Audul)on's journal contains the

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 3

following notice of this meeting : " April 10, 1824, I was intro-
troduced to the son of Lucien Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon,
a great ornithologist, I was told. He remained two hours,
went out, and returned with two Italian gentlemen, and their
comments [upon the bird paintings] made me very contented."
A warm friendship sprang iijd from this meeting, and though
the two saw little of each other's society, many letters joassed
between them. We have a glimpse of Bonaparte from the pen
of Audubon, written in 1827, when the former was in London,
having just arrived from America. "His fine head was not
altered, his mustachios, his bearded chin, his keen eye, all was
the same." At Bonaparte's lodgings Audubon was surprised
to hear the servant address Bonajjarte as ' ' Your Roj'al High-
ness." ''I thought this ridiculous in the extreme," says
Audubon, " and I cannot conceive how good Charles can bear
it; though probably he does bear it because he is good Charles."
Again on December 4, 1827, Audubon writes: "A letter from
Charles Bonaparte tells me he has decided not to reside in
America, but in Florence; this I much regret."

Another ornithologist with whom Bonaparte was in close
touch in his early years was Titian R. Peale, whom he sent to
Florida at his own expense to secure material for his American
Ornithology.

While in Philadelphia Bonaparte was an active member of
the Academy of Natural Sciences, having been elected in 1824.
At this time we have an interesting sketch of him in a letter
written by Dr. Edmund Porter, of Frenchtown, N. J., to Dr.
Thomas Miner, of Haddam, Conn., dated October 25th, 1825.*
Among a number of worthies who were present at a meeting of
the Academy, Porter mentions Bonaparte in the following
words: " Bonaparte is the son of Lucien Bonaparte and nephew
to the Emperor Napoleon; he is a little, set, blackeyed fellow,
quite talkative, and withal an interesting and companionable
fellow. He devotes his attention to ornithology, and has pub-
lished a continuation of Wilson's work on the above subject.
- . . C. L. Bonaparte read a Memoir on the Golden Plover.

* See article by Witmer Stone in The Auk for April, 1899.

4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

To a novice it Beenis curious that men of the first intellect
should pay so much attention to web-footed gentrj- with wings."
In that trio of early American ornithologists — Wilson, Audu-
bon and Bonaparte — names that must always be associated
together — Bonaparte stands out distinctly as the systematist,
the one whose logical mind saw more clearly than that of any
other ornithologist of his time the fundamental problems of
relationship. His first paper publi.«hed in the Academy's
journal was entitled "Observations on the Nomenclature of
Wilson's Ornithology." Here was in fact, and I think in
name also, the first appearance of "nomenclature" in orni-
thological science. To quote Coues, it "introduced a new
feature — decided changes in nomenclature resulting from the
sifting and rectification of synonymy. It is here that questions
of synonymy — to-day the bane and drudgery of the working
naturalist — first acquire prominence in the history of our special
subject." When we realize that when he prepared this paper
Bonaparte was barely twenty-one years of age, it is obvious
that we are dealing with a man of extraordinary ability. Fur-
thermore he wrote his scientific contributions in the next few
years in three different languages, and though he was constantly
apologizing for his " bad English," he had little to be ashamed
of. His comprehensive knowledge of ornithology was not con-
fined to the bird life of any single country'; it was cosmopolitan
in its range and character, as is attested by his great work, the
Conspectm Avium, published in 1850. Bonaparte's Synopsis,
published in 1828, was the first attempt at a definite and sys-
tematic arrangement of the species and genera of North Ameri-
can birds. It is the original of the modern check list and the
various systems of classification. The copy of the "Synopsis "
carried by Audubon on his Labrador trip, and with his mar-
ginal notes on the various species of birds observed is now,
among other interesting Americana, in the collection of a Phila-
delphia gentleman. Another fact of interest relates to the
names of the two genera of American doves described bj' Bona-
parte — Zenaida and Zenaidura. These evidently bear the name
of his wife, Zenaide, a fact, and one of the very few facts, over-
looked by Dr. Coues in his bibliographical researches.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 5

During his residence in Italy, Bonaparte published the Fauna
Italira, 3 vols., which appeared between the years 1833 and 1841.
He also published two smaller works — the Comparison of the
Birds of Rome and Philadelphia, and of Europe and North
America, while he was a frequent contributor to many scientific
journals.

Bonaparte, as shown by letters that are still preserved, was a
liberal patron of the Philadelphia Academy in those early days
when it was a struggle indeed to keep such institutions in ex-
istence. His letters show also a decided appreciation of humor,
for on one occasion he writes from New York commenting on
the grand opera that he had attended, and states that owing to
the prevailing influenza the audience was constantly coughing
and sneezing, "which supplied in a pretty awkward manner
the deficiency of instruments in the orchestra." This letter
ends with a plea to his friend Dr. Hays of the Academy, "For
God sake," he says, "don't throw a feather away of those East
Indies birds before I have examined them. Some may prove
interesting. ' '

No direct issue in the male line survive to perpetuate the
name of the ornithologist, though he had a number of children
— one Cardinal Bonaparte, of Italy, died in 1895, and another,
Charles, died in 1899. A brother of the ornithologist, Louis
Lucien Bonaparte, was celebrated as a philologist, especially for
his work on the Basque language and on various European
dialects.

Alexander Wilson will always hold a distinctive place as the
pioneer worker in American ornithology. Audubon was the
artist, the gifted painter of our bird life. Both of these men
were poet and artist rather than scientist. It was Charles
Lucien Bonaparte who first placed American ornithology on the
firm basis of science.

Summer Birds of Broadhead's Creek, Monroe Co., Pa.

BY CORNELIUS WEYGANDT

In the northern part of Monroe county, where the Pocono
plateau breaks down into lower lands that roll eastward to the
Delaware, is a country that I love. Here at Buck Hill Falls,
in a shack in the woods on a low mountain, fifteen hundred
feet above tide-water, I spent the three months, June 15-Sep-
tember 15, 1905. The forest about the shack was burnt through
a little more than twenty years ago and is grown up again into
a fairly open woods of rock-oak, chestnut and hickory. Only
here and there are left trees of the previous forest, and there is
comparatively little undergrowth on the mountain-top, save
where the trees have been cut to make way for cottages. There
is one cleared space where a farmer lived and worked a few
fields before the Friends made a summer settlement there. The
building of some seventy cottages has altered somewhat condi-
tions in these woods; it has driven away some birds and brought
in others, but, as yet, no English Sparrows.

When we arrived on the evening of June 15, you might have
supposed you were deep in the woods, so loud was the dusk
with Whip-poor-wills and Ovenbirds and Chebecs.* As we
climbed the steps of our shack a Robin fluttered out from her
nest under the porch roof, and next morning I found two de-
serted Pewee'sf nests plastered on the timbers underneath the
shack, which was raised high from the ground and left open
below so that the birds could pass in and out at will. It was
slow work going to sleep that first night, tired as we were, so
incessant were the Whip-poor-wills; in the very heart of the
night I awakened to the flight song of an Ovenbird; in the gray
hours the Wood Pewees began to call; and then the Chebecs

* Empidonax viinimus.
f Sayornis phoehe.

(6)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. i

and Great-crested Flycatchers joined the chorus that tlius be-
came something very different from our Robin chorus in sub-
urban Philadelpliia, although this was partially Robin song,
for there were many Robins at Buck Hill too. Red-eyes were
about in plenty, and I had not been long about in the morning
when I heard Barn-Swallows going over and saw two Swifts
hurtling by. Swifts were rare birds hereabouts, however, as
they were everywhere I ■went within a radius of ten miles.
During this first day I made acquaintance for the first time
with the Blue-headed Vireo, which I soon got to know as one of
our most ecstatic and delicious singers — the books have failed
to do him justice. Most of the many Wood Thrushes of the
neighborhood lived far down tlie mountain side, but I heard
them singing in the distance, and on the evening of our second
day a Hermit Thrush came close by and sang in calm raptures
at intervals for half an hour while the twilight deepened into
night. Before many daj's were over I had found nests of
Flickers and Indigo Buntings and Cedarbirds and Tanagers on
the mountain-top, where, too, were Catbirds and Chewinks * and
Chipping Sparrows, these latter chiefly in the brush where the
forest had been cut oS to afford a view out over the country.

Looking out from the mountain-top I could see that this
Canadensis country — as the natives call the lands of the upper
tributaries of Broadhead's Creek — is a great half-bowl scooped
back into the Pocono plateau, southwest and west and north-
west and north, with little timber of any size on it, except to
northward, but with second growth or scrub almost everywhere.
A higher point, the lookout on the very top of Buck Hill, a
half-mile from our shack, overlooks most of the country I
walked over, and in several directions, miles further than I
walked. From this point yon look upward along the rising
sides of the half-bowl over unbroken woodland as far as the eye
can reach. It is sombre and desolate, this unbroken greenness,
with something in it both of the freedom and menace of the sea.
For about three miles westward it is growth like that on Buck
Hill, rock-oak and chestnut and hickory, grown up since the

* Pipilo eri/throphfhalnnts.

8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

great fire of 1882, but with the horizon you come to the edge of
the Pocono plateau, a country of huckleberry barrens, burnt
over every few years, and having few trees save scrubby fire-
cherries and sassafrases. Eastward the outlook was over the
gorge of the Buck Hill Branch with its old hemlocks and oaks
out into the open valley, and its farmland and over upland
farms to the reddish cliSs of Spruce Mountain and Wismer
Mountain and to the green, rounded outlines of East Mountain,
looking lawn-like and smooth at this distance with its knee-
high growth of huckleberries.

At the far end of East Mountain is Goose Pond. Below the
far end of Wismer is Price's Pond, and on this side of Wismer
Gravel's Swamp, but there is no water in sight anywhere. You
can see, however, the deep vallej's running back into the
Pocono plateau, cut out by the various branches of Broadhead's
Creek — Mill Creek furthest southwestward, then Rattlesnake,
then the Buck Hill, then Middle Branch and Levis Branch fur-
thest northeastward — all draining parts of the plateau. The
vallej'S of these creeks I explored, becoming more familiar with
that of the Buck Hill, but spending a good deal of time on the
Middle Branch and the Levis Branch and hunting up the source
of the Goose Pond Branch in Goose Pond in the jjinebarrens of
Pike County. This pond is the only piece of water of any size
in the vicinity, Price's Pond being scarcely larger than a coun-
try mill-dam, and the tannery dams on the Rattlesnake being
all but empty now. Southwestward and westward are the great
ice dams on the Tobyhanna — Mr. Carter's neighborhood* — and
eastward the big ponds of Pike County.

Along some of the branches of Broadhead's Creek there is
still some primeval forest, but only a bit here and there; the
upper courses of all of them run through country burnt over for
huckleberries or for grazing for cattle or sheep. Just below the
Buck Hill settlement and about Buck Hill Falls are a few acres
where the old hemlocks are still standing. There is not here
continuous hemlock forest with floor bare save for the hobble-
bush such as you find in some parts of Pennsylvania, but a

*Cf. Cassinia, 1904. p. 29.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. \)

tract in which the trees are rather far apart and interspersed
here and there with great oaks. Underneath and about them
is ahnost impenetrable rhododendron brush, which not infre-
<]uently reaches a height of fifteen feet. These hemlocks and
the burnt-over woods just above them are the hunting-grounds
of the Warblers. The Chestnut-sided Warbler, in my experience
here, is a bird of scrub woods near open spaces in the lowlands;
the Maryland Yellowthroat I found in his usual swamps, but
also high on the huckleberry barrens; the Yellow Warbler was
found in open fields in the lowlands and the Black-throated
Blue Warbler I came upon on the high, dry slopes of Spruce
^fountain, as well as here in the hemlocks, finding the bird in
both places until the time I came home; the Black-and- White
Creeper, too, I found in all sorts of cover, and from the middle
of July on they were much in evidence in the dry woods on the
mountain-tops. I saw two of these birds in far separated parts
of the Canadensis Valley, with each a young Cowbird. To the
hemlocks and rhododendrons along the streams stuck pretty
constantly the Parulas, the Magnolias, the Blackburnians, and
the Black-throated Greens, and several others I could not
identify. A pair of Chats that I came across as I was listening
to a Veery singing — an overlapping of faunas that was very in-
teresting to me — were as you would expect in a thicket where
field and wood met; the only Hooded Warblers that I saw were
in low second growth along the upper waters of the Buck Hill;
the Canadian Warbler I found, as I had found him in the
Bcrkshires, in high, dry woods, but just over the gorge through
which the Buck Hill flows; the Nashvilles, which I did not see
until August 12, evidently migrants, were about our shack.

The Water Thrushes were always along the streams. It was
very interesting to find both species along the Buck Hill, and
in the breeding season. Later in the summer the northern
Water Thrushes seemed more plentiful than the Louisianas. I
got to know the smaller bird's appearance and ways of hunting,
as well as I knew the ways and appearance of his southern
cousins, for the northern birds were the tamer, often coming
within a few feet of me as I sat by the sti'eam and waited for
them to come down past me. But I never found their nest as

10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

I did that of one pair of the Louisiana Water Thrushes. It
was in a shallow gully between two tumbling streams that
these Water Thrushes had built their nest. The gully had been
scoured out when the snow-waters of the spring thaw had
turned these little trout streams to torrents no man dare ford.
Along the gully's sides the roots of a great hemlock had been
washed bare, and in these roots, not fifteen inches above a little
pool of water, the birds had built. Overhead a great hemlock
towered, against whose rock-binding roots debris had piled up,
wreckage of spring floods. Along the Buck Hill all the way to
its junction with the smaller stream, Griscom's Creek, a hun-
dred feet below the nest, and on a hundred yards further, great
hemlocks pillared a lofty aisle of green gloom over amber water.
At intervals the sun broke through, sinking wells of light from
the tree-tops to the bottom of the clear pools. Up stream a few
yards from the nest there was an ojjen space where the sun
made its way down to the hemlock roots in early morning and
late afternoon, but at other hours no sunlight reached the nest
to dry the dampness everywhere about. On the far side of the
Buck Hill, rhododendrons lifted pale crowns of bloom high
among the hemlocks; the little stream flowed from under a very
tunnel of rhododendron. Just above the nest the boulders and
pebbles were bare of moss, the sand caught by the little pool
telling how the scouring had been accomplished. The brown
of the hemlock trunks everywhere about warmed the green
gloom their branches made, blending in with the weathered
reds and grays of the rocks and the grays of the pebbles and
sand to make the wood-floor a gray-brown monotone save
where the water slid along, wimpled amber, or tossed up in
white spray. A little to each side green predominated. Trees
and boulders were lichened, the stones in the bed of the little
stream were heavily tressed with water-moss, and the trunks of
fallen hemlocks were damp and sodden and green with decay.
Seemingly everything about was damp but the five young birds
sitting closely in the nest in the hemlock roots.

Glad indeed I was to see them, for it was an hour and a half
since the anxious cries of the old birds and their full mouths
had halted me in my walk up stream with the surety that the

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 11

nest was near. I found the nest onlj' when there was no other
liand-space in an area thirty feet square to look in. Just a foot
from my feet in the spot where I first stopped was the nest,
but so still were the birds and so like their color and that of the
leaves and fibres out of which the nest was moulded to that of
the debris in the neighborhood that my eye had failed to spot
them. There they sat fiacked in closely, three on the floor of
the nest and two back of and half on top of their fellows. All
were facing my way, but by not so much as an eyelid's quiver
did they indicate their presence, when I stopped within touch-
ing distance of them. I had seen the parents the day before a
little down stream from their home and watched them running
along the sides of the stream and out into the shallows which
extended far into the stream, owing to the verj- gradual dip of
the rock that was here the stream's bottom. Beautiful I had
then thought them, their chocolate-brown * backs and spotted
breasts and clear buff throats standing out distinctly against the
red shale of the shallows. Then I had noticed their habit of
flying up stream a certain distance, then hunting down stream,
and then flying up to begin the hunt down over the same ground
again, just like the European "water thrush" or dipper that
I had first seen in Keimanagh Pass in Kerry. I did not then
notice them and I have never noticed them run under water
like the dipper, but they chase gnats out into water two inches
deep and gather larvae from the stones in midstream, flying out
to them and then hunting around them if the water is not too
deep or too swift.

Now I had a still better chance to view them, for the longer
I searched for the nest the more anxious they became, since all
the while the young were going hungry. Both old birds walked
about nervously, tilting their tails up like the Solitary Sand-
piper. Worm in mouth as they were, they could utter their
complaining " tswit" as sharply as ever. I sat still for a long
time and they finally came close to me, tilting themselves about
on rocks and logs not ten feet away. The female — as I took it
to be because it was the more worried of the two — came the

* [ii this light there was none of the '■ olive" the books speak of on tlieir
backs.

12 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

closer, and one time when I had seen the male dart into a
cranny of the drift pile and had followed him there in the hope
of finding the nest, she got to the nest without my seeing her.
I heard the young birds then for the first time, but she was out
and walking off some six feet from where I later found the nest
before I got my eye on her again. This was the only time the
young were fed in an hour and a half. Except for the one time
she fed them the female for all the ninety minutes never relin-
quished the worm she had for them, but the male three times
ate his. He would scold around close to his mate, the two often
walking the same log or stone, worm in mouth, hut after twenty
minutes or so the strain or temptation would become too great
and he would pound his worm tender on stone or twig and then
swallow it. He sang several times after so yielding, but he was
quickly away again and back with a worm in a few minutes.
Once he mounted singing in the air like an Ovenbird, ending
his upward rush by catching a flimsy, big-winged, greenish in-
sect, which he promptly swallowed on bis return to the ground.
But the restraint of the young seemed to me more wonderful
than that of the parents. Time after time in m}' search I was
almost touching them, but they were true to their instinct to
keep still. The parents, of course, were in no greater agitation
after I had found the nest than while I was hunting for it, for I
was as often near it then as now, when I could see it. I did not
disturb the young, but when I returned in the afternoon there
were but four birds in the nest. The next morning all were
gone. I found them less than a hundred yards up the smaller
stream hidden in a dense rhododendron thicket. There they
remained for three days longer and then I saw them no more,
or rather after that I could not identify any Louisiana Water
Thrushes I saw as this particular family.

I met Water Thrushes along the stream on and off after that
until August (the young in the nest I found flew on June 25),
both Louisiana Water Thrushes and Northern Water Thrushes.
A month later (July 21) after I had been lazing about a half
hour on a large rock just below the nest, watching trout in the
stream and warblers in the hemlocks, a Louisiana Water Thrush
darted out of the brush just alongside of me, his departure

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 13

arousing a teetering as of young in the brush. They had evi-
dently been there all that time, taking perhaps their midday
rest, for it was now well on towards five o'clock in the after-
noon. You could see no more than a few feet into the rhodo-
dendrons, and as they were practicallj^ impenetrable, I could
not find how many young were there. After hunting on the
stream for a few minutes the bird that had flown out of the
brush flew back into it, and that was the last I saw of him.
Even as late as August I usually came upon Water Thrushes by
the Buck Hill if I went there early in the morning, but after
the first week in July I never saw one there from ten to four
o'clock. They sang on until July 20, late in the evening and
earl}' in the morning.

I am not sure I heard the song of the Northern Water Thrush
on the Buck Hill for I never saw one singing, but I got to know
well the song of the larger species and other less fine but un-
mistakably Water Thrush songs I put down to the northern
bird, and several times I saw this species just after hearing the
song I had attributed to it. The place in which the bird sings
lends largely to the charm of its song, but the song in itself is
the finest warbler song I know. In June I heard it at midday
flung out above the dappled amber pools under the hemlocks,
the purring and slucking of the water about the stones muffling
its sharpness so that the notes as thej' reached my ear were
clear and pure. Recall the more musical part of the Ovenbird's
flight-song and you will have something of its quality. In late
July I heard it at the hour when moonset and sunrise are one.
It could not compare with the song of the Veery heard at the
same time, and doubly precious so late in the season, but I
shall always associate it with that song, and with the dawnlight
over the mountains, and with the moon riding down westward
behind the pines. But it was even more memorable to hear it
at night. I never heard it at moonlit midnight as I have so
often heard the song of the Ovenbird, but perhaps I could have
heard it then had I been in the Buck Hill gorge at the proper
hour. There one evening in early July, I did hear the Louisi-
ana Water Thrush sing with an ecstasy and abandon I had not
heard from it before. Under a high bluff and just far enough

14 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

below the falls for their roar to be pleasantly dulled, the Water
Thrush sang. Down here in the hemlocks it was darker than
twilight, although it was not quite eight o'clock. Perhaps the
bluff acted as a sounding-board, perhaps the soft thunder of the
falls made a vibration of the air that added intensity to the
song. Whatever the cause it rose above the rhododendrons
with unwonted volume, still far from a jjowerful song, but bo
sweet and appealing that I could not but listen though a glor-
ious-voiced Wood Thrush was singing not far away.

Two birds I saw but once during the summer were near the
Water Thrushes' nest. In one of the hemlocks just above it I
watched, on July 16, three Crossbills, which after clambering
about on the topmost boughs for about a quarter of an hour
flew off towards the Tobyhanna barrens; and a little further up
stream, where a field comes down to the creek, I came upon,
earlier in July, a AVhite-eyed Vireo, a bird strangely out of
place in the rhododendrons. When we arrived at Buck Hill
Pewees were nesting along the creek, probably for the second
time. I could not help wondering if these were not the same
birds that had raised broods earlier underneath the porch roof of
the cottages of the settlement or under the cottages themselves.
There were none on the mountain-top in the middle of June
and I saw none there later. They could hardly have been
driven away by the cottagers, for not half of them were there at
that time and few at all had come before June 1. One of these
late stream-side nests was almost reached by the spray of the
falls in its situation under an overhanging cliff; another in a
damp spot the sun never reached on the cliffs above the swim-
ming hole, very different locations from the dry sites about the
cottages but probably just as comfortable in this warmer season.
In the former nest the brood was successfully hatched and
launched into the world. The fortunes of the second nest I
neglected to follow.

Around this swimming-hole there were Veeries two years ago
but now they have been driven further up-stream where they
sang on past July 20 and one even until the twenty-third. Now
the Wood Thrushes were the thrushes about Glen Mere and
glorious- voiced thrushes they were, too. They sang on into the

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 15

thick dusk, until eight o'clock, but higher up tlie mountain,
although there the light lingers later, thej' generally cease their
song a half-hour earlier. These higher, dryer woods were in-
habited chiefly by Tanagers, of which there are more at Buck
Hill than I have seen elsewhere, Vireos, and the omnipresent
Ovenbird and Whip-poor-will. Here too, were a few Flickers
and Hairy Woodpeckers. I saw no Downy Woodpeckers until
September 13 and then only one, evidently a migrant. Two
years before I had seen many Red-breasted Nuthatches here-
abouts in their September migration but last September I saw
none.

The Kingfishers sometimes came up-stream from the open
country but they were oftener found where meadows run down
to the stream. Everywhere, along the streams, along the roads,
about the houses, in the deep woods, were Humming-birds —
they were among the commonest birds of the locality.

Beyond the Buck Hill, between it and the Middle Branch
was farming country — bottoms where you found the Yellow
Warbler and Catbirds ; orchards busy with Cedarbirds and
Kingbirds and Wrens and Bluebirds and Baltimore Orioles, and
barns swallow-haunted, with Barn Swallows within and Eave
Swallows without. The Eave Swallows had several large colo-
nies both here in the valleys and high up the hills, but you
found them on every third barn in the lowlands and only on
every fifth barn in the uplands. One lowland barn boasted
fifty-one nests, forty-four on the southern side and seven on the
northern. There were j'oung in some nests on June 16 and two
months later I still found a few young not yet flown. On
August 17 there were hundreds of them on the telegraph wires
and ridge-poles. After August 20 I saw none. Every barn and
wagon-shed in the country seemed to have its pair or two of
Barn Swallows and I think there must have been as many of
them all told as of the Eave Swallows, although of course, you
never saw them in any one place in such numbers.

In bush-lined fields in the valleys were Field Sparrows and
Indigo Buntings and Grasshopper Sparrows, but these birds like
the Robins and Redeyes and Cowbirds could not be said to be
more numerous in one kind of country than another. With the

IG PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Grasshopper Sparrows I spent a good deal of time. One place
from wliich I could always Hush two pairs early in the summer
was a barren field of sparse grass below a IMoravian grave-yard.
They were frequently in the grave-yard, where I saw my solitary
Cuckoo, a Yellowbill, of the summer, and would sing from the
tomb-stones and from the fence-posts. But their favorite sing-
ing stations were the tops of dried mullein stalks in the barren
field. One windy June morning I lay here under the lee of a
stone wall for an hour watching them. I sought in vain for
their nests. All the places they dropped down into were ap-
jiarently only feeding-spots. They scratched up the small stones
in the field, presumably to get at some sort of insect life as well
as for grass-seeds, leaving decided traces of their energetic leg-
work. Every few minutes they would mount to the mullein-
tops with their curious fluttering flight as of young birds and
sing, sometimes the grasshopper note and sometimes a fuller song
that I can best represent by " tweedle-tee, tweedle-tee, tweedle-
t weedle-tweedle-tee. ' '

Climbing the Dutch Hill road that leads from the bottom to
the upland between Middle Branch and Levis Branch, you pass
a thistle-patch where Yellowbirds were always to be seen in late
summer, but all summer long wherever I went I heard them
.singing in the air as they dropped over. Further uj) this road
I saw on several days between August 8 when I saw it first, and
August 16 when I saw it last, a Shrike. Which shrike it was I
do not pretend to know, but very interesting it was to watch.*
For minutes at a time it would sit motionless on the top of the
single second-growth chestnut left where the wood-lot was cut
ofJ ; then spying some insect it would swoop down upon it, to
return with labored flycatcher-like flight to its chosen station.
Sometimes it must have missed its strike or found the prey so
small that it could gulj) it down without dismembering it, for it
would relight on its tower and take up the watch again, without
any sign of feeding. At other times I could see it carrying back
the insect. These times it would deftly insert the insect under
its foot and pressing it down to the limb tear it to pieces hawk-

* lu all probability Limius Indimicianus migrans, the Migrant Shrike. — Ed.

DELAWARK VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 17

fashion with its bill. It caught no bird during the several hours
i watched it, but I noticed that no small birds were about while
it was perched aloft there, though the neighborhood earlier in
the season had been thick with Indigo-birds, Song Sparrows and
Field Sparrows, and though later many sorts of sparrows were
gathered here in large flocks.

Further up Dutch Hill where the narrow stony road runs
between stone walls shoulder-high are buckwheat fields and
bare pastures. There were always Vesper Sparrows, Field
Sparrows and Grasshopper Sparrows on the ground and walls,
and in the air Swallows swooping in great circles about the
cattle. Toward the middle of August great flocks of Bluebirds
loitered here on their way to and from the huckleberry barrens
northward, filling the air with such gurghng music as I had
never heard even in spring. And here on August 18 I came
upon my surprise of the summer. I was coming down hill
across lots when I heard behind me low calls of " weet, weet,
weet," about like those of Horned Larks in winter, I thought,
and turning I saw scudding close to the ground like sandpipers
over water a flock of small birds with yellowish breasts marked
with black. As they passed me I saw that their backs were
grayish and that there was white on their tails. They lit, some
on the ground, some on a stone wall, and walked. I was inno-
cent of the knowledge that Prairie Horned Larks are sometimes
seen in northeastern Pennsylvania until I got home to the books
and I was utterly unable to identify the birds. The owner of
the lot, lifting great boulders out of the ground with a great tri-
pod and lever arrangement, was appealed to. He said, "Only
some kind of sparrows," and when I pointed out to him that
they walked instead of hopping, he looked at me rather pity-
ingly and said, " Don't sparrows walk?" But I was no nearer
an identification than he, although had they not walked I would
have thought him not so far from the truth, and guessed Dick-
cissels, for they seemed something like descriptions of these
birds I carried in memory, and I had always been hoping that
Dickcissels might come my way.

At Levis Falls, beyond Dutch Hill, and at Gravel's Swamp
under Wismer were Solitary Sandpipers, for whose nests I

18 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

looked diligently in June on drift heaps on the margin and on
the trees that had rotted off and fallen when the dam-breast was
in repair and the dam full of water. It was not until ]Mr. Stone
came up for a day in August that I learned that the Solitary
Sandpiper nested in old birds' nests in trees * and that by my
ignorance I had possibly missed a rare find. What a walk I
had with Stone on August 11! It was a day of soaking drizzle
but that did not matter, for Stone's taking me bogging would
have gotten me almost as wet on a rainless day. In the swamp
to which he took me, way up under the edge of the huckleberry
barrens, we made a rare find. The swamp was full of birds,
Swamp Sparrows and others not uncommon in such places in
the region, but a number of small flycatchers bothered us.
Neither of us had ever seen Alder Flycatchers in the field, but
here were small flycatchers that were not Acadian Flycatchers
or Chebecs and that answered very nearly to descriptions and
looked like skins of Alder Flycatchers. They were not wild at
first, and we got several good looks at them. A distinguishing
feature was the disclosure of grayish-white as they flew. I had
been in this swamp several times before in June and July and
I had not seen the flycatchers there nor did I see others like
them afterwards. We had seen them in alder bushes too.

There were interesting birds other than the Solitary Sandpiper
in Gravel's Swamp. Scores of the water-killed trees still stood
and in their rotting trunks scores of Woodpeckers had drilled
out their nests. I was disappointed at not finding the Fileated
Woodpecker here, for I had seen one at Buck Hill in September,
1903, and I thought this swamp was near enough to the large
timber northward to make it possible for the logcocks to come
here. The only two woodpeckers I found nesting in the swamp
were the Flicker and the Hairy Woodpecker. But in old wood-
peckers' holes I found Bluebirds and Wrens nesting, three pairs
of Bluebirds and two pairs of Wrens. I suppose it was in such
places they nested before Europeans came here to tempt them
by boxes and gourds to the homeyard. Here in the swamp
were many Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows, and along its

*Cf. Raine, Ottawa Nat., XVII I., p. 135.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 19

shores some Veeries and Pewees, and often in the burnt woods
above I heard the Chickadees, who, by the by, sang their
"phoebe" song the whole three months of my stay in Barrett
township; and here, too, was seen an occasional Crow and Blue-
jay. I was surprised by the comparative rareness of these
birds and I was disappointed in not seeing a raven all summer
long. The nearest I got to a record was the statement that
there had been caught up in Newfoundland in Pike County
seven years before in the winter ' ' a big crow with heavy feathers
on his neck that some said was a raven." This bird was kept
in captivity a long while in " a big chicken- wire cage." It was
not known what had become of him, but ' ' he was not about
any more."

In Gravel's Swamp the White-bellied Swallow nested, too,
in the old Woodpeckers' holes. They stayed in the neighbor-
hood later than either of the other Swallows, and as late as Sep-
tember 6 I saw six of them hawking about high over the tannery
dams at Mountain Home. Here, too, in Gravel's Swamp were
Redwings, and at Price's Pond a mile away, but there were few
in all. Here, too, came Great Blue Herons to fish, but they
nested elsewhere, and here, too, I saw one of the only two
Green Herons I came upon all summer. In a grassy swamp a
half mile below Gravel's Swamp I sometimes saw the Redwings,
and in the fields nearby a pair of Meadowlarks. There were
only three places in Barrett township in which I saw Meadow-
larks, and in only one of these places did I ever see more than
two. There were no Crackles here, but at Stroudsburg, seven-
teen miles southeastward, at a lower altitude, and at Toby-
hanna, eleven miles westward, at a higher altitude, I saw them.
The Cowbirds were the only orioles at all plenty near Buck Hill.

The huckleberry barrens were very interesting to me. I vis-
ited them frequently from the beginning of my stay, flushing
Grouse * from those parts of them that had a chance to grow up
more than knee-high, and always finding on them Chewinks
and Redeyes and Bluebirds and Flickers and Robins — the last

* Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellua.

These same biirrens were one of the last resorts of the Heath Hen, Ti/mpan-
uclius cupido, which was last seen here about 1869. — Kn.

20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

three species attracted there no doubt by the berries. On Sep-
tember 13, after I had not seen a Wood Thrush or a Hermit
Thrush for three weeks, and had concluded they had all worked
down to the river valleys as the theory is, I found one individ-
ual of each species on the barrens. A few days earlier I had
come upon flocks of Chewinks and Bluebirds and many Flickers
and several Tanagers — these latter all in green plumage — on the
barrens, and in the second week in September on an automobile
ride up the Delaware to Milford and back I had seen few birds
of any kind, save Crows and Bluejays. Indeed, during the
first two weeks in September the barrens were fairly alive with
birds, while in the woods at Buck Hill, 500 feet lower than the
barrens' 2,000 feet, there were very few birds. There were oc-
casional Brown Thrashers to be met with on the barrens, but
everywhere about Buck Hill they were scarce.

The bird that drew me most often to the barrens was a small
Thrush, whose only possible identification would seem to be as
Bicknell's Thrush. I know the songs of the Wood Thrush,
Veery, Hermit Thrush and Olive-backed Thrush, and the song of
this bird was not the song of any of these. Either I never heard
it close at hand or else it is a song of poor carrying quality, for it
always seemed as if I but half heard it. I had only one look at
the bird at close quarters, but several times I flushed it in the
scrub only to have it dive into the thick growth and elude me.
I started out several times before daylight and reached the bar-
rens by sunrise, but I was not rewarded by seeing the bird as it
sang or even by getting another satisfactory look at it. I men-
tion the bird only because Mr. Carter and Mr. Baily have seen
Thrushes they take to be Bicknell's Thrush in the southwestern
Poconos. *

The two hard winters of 1903-04 and 1904-05 probably ex-
jilain why I never came across a Quail, but I cannot explain so
easily why I never saw the sign of an Owl. It was not their
noisy season when I was there, but that I heard not a hoot or
the startled beating of wings as I came through brush after
nightfall or that I discovered no tragedies of the nests to be

*Cf. Cassinia, 1904, p. ;i5.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 21

attributed to Owls, struck me as surprising. Hawks were not
plenty until late in August, nor as plenty then as I had ex-
pected. I identified only three. A Red-tail, nailed to a barn
door, liad noticeably been there long enough to have been a
migrant; a pair of Broadwings added to their family by at least
one during the summer; and these were Sharp-shins, of which
I saw a good many all summer, but more towards its close. I
saw several other kinds I could not identify, one a very long-
tailed large hawk that soared very high, and now and then hung
quivering in the air for what seemed minutes.

Towards the end of August came great flights of Night-hawks,
but in early and midsummer I never saw more than two at a
time. Their cry was not a tj'pical sound of the night — -you
would hear it only about once a week. Toward the end of
August, too, the Doves began to collect in little bunches, but I
never saw more than half a dozen together, and it was generally
two or three. They were only fairly common.

A refreshing experience was to find familiar birds with songs
differing in quality and even in notation from their songs at
home. The characteristic Robin song of the Buck Hill woods,
for instance, was very much more subdued than the character-
istic Robin song of Germantown. The bird was much less
noisy and self-assertive, and since there were no lawns for him
to run over, his habits of hunting were different. He ran about
on the leaves of the wood-floor, upturning one now and again
with his bill, and at times even .scratching as noisily as a
Chewink. He came under the shack windows for the boiled
barley we threw out, as did, curiously, the White-bellied Nut-
hatches that were about us daily after the middle of July. The
Wood Thrushes' songs were of more varying quality among
themselves than our home Wood Thrushes' songs. One parti-
cular Thrush's song had an extra grace-note in its second part
and the whole song was of so rich a quality that you would
think it some new Thrush song, and be sure of it for a while if
you heard first its second part. The Field Sparrows' songs
were unusually fresh and full, and the Indigo Buntings' songs
of more body than I had heard before.

After July came in the evenings and mornings were not

22 PROCEEDINQS OF THE

nearly so loud with song as were June's. The Whip-poor-wills
were much quieter, and after the middle of the month they
were but infrequently heard. After the middle of August I
heard no "Whip-poor-will" until there came a springlike
night in early September, a night of south wind and soft rain,
and then again the Whip-poor-wills called and an Ovenbird
sang its "teacher" song and its flight-song as if it were May.
The Great-crested Flycatchers disappeared to a bird with June,
and I saw none afterwards the whole summer. The Chebecs
were abundant and noisy after July 1, though less and less
noisy as the month wore on, until about the fifteenth they dis-
appeared as the Great-crested Flycatcher had disapj^eared two
weeks before. However, I saw a Chebec and heard him on
August 2, and two days later a pair with three j'oung came
about our shack. These young were barelj' able to fly, so they
must have come only a little distance from the nest. I sup-
pose some accident had befallen a previous nesting, and the old
birds had begun over again late in the season. But if, as I
think, they had nested somewhere nearby they must have been
very quiet, which is anj'thing but after their custom. The
Pewees and Wood Pewees and Kingbirds were still about when
we left, fewer Kingbirds than Pewees and Wood Pewees, though
for that matter there were fewer all season.

Seventy-three species identified is the total of my list, a list
that might have been added to considerably by one who knows
more birds than I, and who had more time to give to observa-
tion. My chief disappointment was in finding so few Hermit
Thrushes and so few Veeries. I found that the Veeries went
higher in this immediate neighborhood than the Hermit
Thrushes. Both species were much scarcer than they are in
the southern Berkshires (Mt. Washington town), a county
whose avifauna is much like this of the northern Poconos, but,
as you would expect, a little more northern, though scarcely
more northern than that of the Tobyhanna district just above
Buck Hill. These upper branches of Broadhead's Creek rise in
a country that sixty years ago was Canadian in its fauna, and
flowing from two to six miles, reach Barrett township, a
country then Alleghanian in its fauna, but now that the original

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 23

forest is almost all gone, largely Carolinian. This forest-cutting
began about 1840, and went on steadily until practically all the
marketable lumber was exhausted about 1880. So about Buck
Hill you find a few stragglers from the Canadian fauna, the
survivors of the old Alleghanian fauna and many intruders
from the Carolinian. The country was most interesting to me
ornithologically in that it gave me the chance to know better
three birds I had scarcely known at all, and of a charm that I
had not been led to expect — the Eave Swallow, the Louisiana
Water Thrush and the Blue-headed Vireo — the last, one of our
really notable American singers.

Breeding of the Florida Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)
in Philadelpliia County

BY RICHARD F. MILLER

The Florida Gallinule is given in Stone's " Birds of Eastern
Pennsylvania and New Jersey" as a rare or irregular transient
and there is apparently nothing further on record regarding the
bird's status in the Delaware Valley. There are some additional
records of birds shot, but all of these are evidently migrants
and in no sense modify the statement referred to. During the
past two seasons it has been my good fortune to find this species
breeding not only in the valley of the Delaware but within the
city limits of Philadelphia, and the account of my experience
which follows apparently constitutes the first record of the breed-
ing of this species in either Southern New Jersej' or Eastern
Pennsylvania. As to its occurrence in summer elsewhere than
in the limited area covered by my investigations I cannot speak,
but from the fact of its being overlooked in this spot and its
nests being attributed to the King Rail (Rallus elegnns), it seems
quite probable that the same thing has occurred elsewhere and
that not a few of the recorded nests of the King Rail really
belong to the Florida Gallinule, which may yet prove to be a
not infrequent summer resident of our river marshes. So diffi-
cult are the birds to flush and such admirable concealment do
the marshes furnish that the overlooking of the bird is hardly to
be wondered at.

The marsh where I have found the Florida Gallinule breed-
ing is the largest one left in the northeastern section of the city,
and is situated at Richmond, less than five miles from the City
Hall. It comprises about twenty acres, and lies between West-
moreland and Tioga streets, and the banks of the Delaware river.
It has been divided into three parts by the intersecting of two
streets and a canal. The smallest and less important marsh,

(24)

DELAWARE ViVLLEY ORNITHOLOGICAIj CLUB. 25

about two acres in area, lies along the river bank between Tioga
street and the canal, its western boundary consisting of a dump.
It is inhabited during the summer months by several pairs of
Marsh Wrens (Tehnatodytes jmlustris). It is the deepest as well
as the smallest marsh, but the water is polluted with the refuse
from a nearby paper mill, which accounts for the absence of
water birds.

Intermediate between the canal which is used by a paper mill
as a reservoir and not for transportation purposes, and Ontario
street lies the next largest marsh which comprises about six
acres or more. Its eastern boundary is the river bank and its
western a dump. It is covered with a thick, dense, tangled
growth of tall cattail rushes growing in mud and water about a
foot in depth.

Many a time have I searched this marsh for nests of Rails and
Least Bitterns but without success* except on one occasion, on
May 29, 1903, when I found a Virginia Rail's nest, which,
however, was subsequently deserted. The Long-billed Marsh
Wrens are the only birds that I have found nesting in it during
the last two years. The Least Bitterns have on several occa-
sions been observed flying to and from the marsh late in July
and early in August, after the breeding season, and had doubt-
less been feeding there.

The main section of the marsh lies between Westmoreland
and Ontario streets. The two streets are dirt-covered sewers,
unopened and used only by casual pedestrians to and from the
river. The river bank carries a railroad which is daily used by
a noisy shifting engine, and a large dump on the west is worked
daily by numerous men and boys.

In the immediate vicinity of the marsh there are several large
manufacturing plants. This marsh is covered with a growth of
calamus and cattail, with some spots of open water and num-
erous patches of spatterdock mostly along the borders.

Sphagnum floats on the surface of the water in many places
or just below it, and duckweed on some days fairly covers
it. The marsh is about six feet below the surface of the
streets, and is drained by several sluices, the water rising and
falling with the tide in the Delaware River, and is thus always

26 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

fresh, while the sluices incidentally admit many fish, which
form the chief food of the Gallinule, if not of the other water-
birds, and may account for their presence here.

My acquaintance with the Florida Gallinule began on June 1,
1904, when, while hunting for Least Bitterns' nests, I suddenly
flushed a Gallinule from a patch of rushes I had just entered.
It took wing about fifteen feet ahead of me and flew, bittern-
fashion, with dangling legs ; but unlike the Bittern it did not
utter anj' croaks of alarm, and after flying about ten yards
dropped into another patch of rushes.

This is the only Gallinule I ever succeeded in flushing and I
must have greatly alarmed it to compel it to seek safety in flight.
Many times afterward have I chased and pursued these w'ary
birds through the rushes, always guided by their cries, in vain
attempts to compel them to take wing so that I could note their
mode of flight — but always without success. In fact it is a dif-
ficult matter even to obtain a glimpse of one as it skulks about
among the vegetation.

My first nest of the Florida Gallinule was found on June 14,
1904. It was situated in a clump of thick cattails seven feet
high, well in the marsh, placed on and over water two feet deep,
and attached to several of the growing stalks. It was a large
nest, well-built and shapely, composed of coarse dry rushes
woven together, lined with dry thin tops of rushes and dry
marsh grass. Outside width sixteen inches, inside twelve
inches, depth outside seven inches, inside three inches. It will
be seen that the bottom was four inches and the sides two
inches in thickness — thick enough to keep out the dampness.
The bird probably left the nest as she heard me approaching
through the rushes. The incubation of the eggs varied from
fresh to well begun. While taking the eggs and measuring the
nest, the bird was heard cackling continuously in the rushes
close by, and kept it up until I had left that part of the marsh.
The nest was ruined in a vain attempt to collect it.

On June 21, 1904, I found a completed Gallinule's nest in
this marsh near the sf)ot where I found the preceding one, and
I feel sure it was the second nest of the same pair of birds.
One bird was seen near the completed nest, a mere glimpse

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 27

however, as she skulked about amid the rushes, incessantly
uttering her hen-like cackle. Ten days later, on July 1, the
nest contained ten eggs, which seems to prove that the Gallinule
lays her eggs daily.

This nest was placed amid dense, tall cattails seven feet high,
over water one and one-half feet deep, securely attached and
woven to the stems of the rushes. It was composed of dry
rushes, woven tightly together, lined with fine dry marsh-grass
and dry dead heads of rushes. Like the first, it was well built,
compact and cupped, but slightly smaller. Outside width
twelve inches, inside eight inches; depth outside ten inches,
inside three inches. The bottom of this nest being seven inches
thick, protected the contents from the dampness and cold dur-
ing the bird's absence. This second nest was about ten feet
from the site of the first, and both were less than twenty-five
feet from the dump.

The bird evidently departed hurriedly from her nestful of
eggs as she heard me approaching, for one egg reposed on top of
the others, probably lately laid. She cackled all around me in
the rushes, but I endeavored to flush her in vain.

No Gallinules were observed or heard on July 12, 1904, when
I searched for them. I certainly did not intrude upon the
domain of any or I would have heard their noisy calls, for as
soon as a person approaches the vicinity of their nest, one of
the birds, probably the female, ever alert and on guard, begins
to cackle her alarm, and only ceases when the intruder leaves
the vicinity.

In 1905 my experiences with the Gallinules were as follows:
On May 31, I collected a set of twelve eggs from a nest situ-
ated in the center of a large jjatch of tall cattails well out in the
marsh. It was placed half-foot up on some old last year's- dried
rushes, attached and woven to the growing stems, and over
water about two feet deep. This nest consisted entirely of last
year's dried cattail leaves woven loosely together, lined with the
same sort of material. It was large and well built. Maximum
outside diameter eighteen inches, inside ten inches; outside
depth seven inches, inside three inches. Five of these eggs
were about one-half incubated, and the rest three-quarters. I

28 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

.should judge that the last egg was laid about May 17, which
would give May 6 as the day upon which the first one was
deposited. This nest was too loosely constructed to collect ;
when I tried to take it, it fell apart. No birds were seen or
heard at or near the nest.

In that part of the marsh where I found the two Gallinules'
nests in 1904, I again found one on June 12 of this year, con-
taining three eggs. The bird cackled in the rushes close by
while I examined her nest and eggs, but she could not be seen
or flushed. Nine days later, on June 21, this nest contained
eleven eggs, none of them over one-third incubated. This nest
was about thirty feet from the dump, situated in a solitary
clump of rushes less than a yard in extent, in a "pool" of
open water, which in turn was surrounded on all sides by thick
cattails. It was similar to the others in position and con-
struction, but not so well built. Outside diameter nine inches,
inside five inches; outside depth four inches, inside two inches.
This nest is considerably smaller than the three others described.

An egg in this set was laid upon the others, and as it was
fresh it was evidently the last one laid, and I disturbed the bird
from the nest before she had time to arrange it with the others.

This bird laid eight eggs in eight or nine daj's, and un-
doubtedly laid the complement of eleven eggs in as many days.
While collecting the nest and eggs the bird uttered her character-
istic hen-like cackles from the rushes all around me, but I could
obtain no glimpse of her.

On the day this nest was first found, June 12, I found an-
other, in the same sort of situation and apparently completed
and ready for eggs. It was afterward, however, considered to
be a sham or false nest, as no eggs were laid in it, and only this
■one pair of birds inhabited this part of the marsh. The Florida
Gallinule seems to have learned to construct false or sham nests
like the Least Bittern and their midget companions, the Marsh
Wrens.

Another apparently completed Gallinule' s nest was found on
June 22, situated in a small "islet" of rushes, two feet in area
in an open si)ace of water, several yards in extent, surrounded
on all sides by dense patches and clumps of cattails. The bird

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 29

cackled her alarm at my intrugion, but it was impossible to see
her. Hiding myself amid a dense clump which afforded a view
of the nest I waited and watched for over twenty minutes for
the bird to emerge, but I waited in vain. During my watch
she continually cackled all around me, quite well aware of my
presence and doubtless also of my intention. Suspicious, wary
birds, possessed of more cunning and intelligence than the stupid
Least Bittern — for a ten minute wait would suffice for one of the
latter birds to approach its nest. Though I had not the pleas-
ure of observing the bird as I wished, I learned to know its
noisj' cackle better than ever.

On this afternoon I found another Gallinule's nest, in a dif-
ferent part of the marsh, situated amid a large, dense patch of
<;attails seven feet liigli) huilt just like the others. It contained
only four eggs, two collected and preserved as they were rotten
and worthless to the birds. The other two were pipped, and the
point of the bill of a young bird protruded through the shell of
one. The old bird was seen closely and well. She was absent
when I found the nest and I was about to leave it, having tom-
pleted my examination, when she put in her appearance. She
was terribly excited and solicitous for the safety of her home,
and judging from her peculiar actions she was coming straight
toward her nest unaware of my presence, for I heard an alarmed
series of guttural cackles and glancing in the direction whence
they came I spied the bird not more than ten feet away behind
a screen of rushes. She was in the water, uttering series after
series of incessant cackles. She splashed, dove and jumped about
and ran apparently on the surface with drooping wings, the ob-
ject of the whole performance being evidently to attract and
divert mj' attention from the nest. When she realized that all
her clever tricks failed to deceive me she swam quietly about in
small circles, but continued cackling. I endeavored to approach
closer, but she quickly divined my intention, and ere I had ad-
vanced three steps she swam rapidly awaj^ and disappeared.

Some accident undoubtedly befel this bird's nest, for the
Florida Gallinule seldom or rarely lays less than seven or eight
eggs in a clutch.

About one hundred and fifty feet from this spot I found an-

30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

other Gallinule nest the same day. It was situated among cat-
tails seven feet high. It was twenty-two inches above water
at high tide, and was well concealed on nearly all sides by the
drooping blades, the tops of which blown over by the wind
hung directly over it. It held ten eggs, nine of which contained
young birds as was ascertained by gently shaking them and five
were actually pipped, the other egg was rotten. All of the eggs
were discolored due to nest stain and the advanced stage of
incubation.

The bill of one young bird protruded through the eggshell
and as I took it from the nest, the young bird peeped from
within. I peeled the shell from around him except a small
piece to which adhered the membraneous lining and as this was
also attached to the abdomen of the bird I was afraid to separate
it from the body.

He was covered with black down, wet of course, but which
when dry must have been soft and downy. Its bill was flesh-
colored and its frontal shield (what there was of it) and the base
of the bill pale vermilion in color.

No birds were seen or heard near this nest, though I waited
about fifteen minutes, as long as the mosquitoes would permit,
for the female to put in her appearance. All of tliese eggs were
undoubtedly safely hatched and the young bird probably lived,
for on my next visit to this marsh early in July I found the nest
empty.

On the day this nest was found I had the good fortune to ob-
serve one of the Gallinules. I was standing on the dump, hav-
ing just left the marsh when I spied the bird emerge from a
clump of rushes and sedately and slowly walk across an open
space of water between two clumps of rushes about twenty feet
wide, into the opposite one. It walked upon the thick sphag-
num and seemed to rest upon the water. Almost as soon as it
left the clump of rushes it noticed me watching it, but evinced
no alarm nor did it hasten its progress, but went unconcernedly
on, and as it walked, kept up a continual hen-like cackle. After
it had disappeared into the patch of rushes I pursued it, always
guided by its guttural cackles, for about five minutes in another
vain effort to flush it. The bird seemed to realize my purpose

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 31

and tantalizingly led me on through tlie thick patch of rushes,
always keeping several yards ahead, judging bj' the cackling
cries, but always out of sight.

In July I found several Gallinules' nests, but they were all
sham or false nests. Two of them were situated amid calamus,
placed on the rushes which had been blown into a horizontal
position by the wind. Both were along the border of the marsh
and were loosely constructed, shallow and poorly built.

The Florida Gallinule has various calls and cries, but the
most common which it utters when alarmed or on the presence
of any one near or at its nest, consists of a series of cackles,
remarkably hen-like, uttered incessant!}', and only ceasing when
the intruder has left the vicinity.

The set of ten eggs collected on June 14, 1904, now in the
extensive collection of Mr. J. Warren Jacobs, of Waynesburg,
Penn., has been kindly described by him for me as follows:

The ground color is uniform throughout the set, a dull pink-
ish buff, with a tendency toward light wood-brown. The
markings are scattered pretty evenly over the entire shell, in
splotches, spots and minute specks of ecru-drab, lavender-gray,
and chestnut- brown of equal distribution. The shape is irregu-
lar, varying throughout the set, from elliptical-ovate to elongate-
ovate. While most of the eggs vary from true elliptical-ovate
by having a slightly blunt small end, two are tj'pical elongate-
ovate. Size 1.85x1.26, 1.81x1.21 (elongate-ovate), 1.78x1.23,
1.83x1.23, 1.83x1.26, 1.79x1.25, 1.73x1.26, 1.83x1.27, 1.83x
1.26, and 1.82x1.25 inches.

The eggs of the Florida Gallinule and King Rail are usually
described as so greatly resembling each other, that it is
almost impossible to distinguish them. As a matter of fact,
in my experience, the eggs of the former bird are larger in
size, the ground color considerably darker, and the markings
also of darker coloration. When compared with a set of
King Rail's eggs in my collection the differences between the
eggs, notably the size, are readily discernible.

The earliest date of arrival of the Gallinule, of which I have
a record, is April 21, 1905, on which day a man captured one
in a concrete box at Clearfield and Cedar streets, less than
half a mile from the Richmond marsh.

32 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Mr. Edwin C. Axe, the well-known Frankford taxidermist,
who has hunted and mounted birds for over fort}' years, in-
forms me that he has never met with the Florida Gallinule, but
said that he had mounted two for a gunner, both killed years
ago in the meadows at Bridesburg during the breeding season.

The gunner, he said, flushed the first bird in a marsh and
shot it. His dog going for it flushed another which he also
shot. Becoming suspicious of the true state of affairs he investi-
gated and had his suspicions verified by finding a nest contain-
ing two eggs, which he collected. He brought the specimens
to Mr. Axe, who mounted the birds and blew the eggs, after
vainly trying to coax a bantam hen to brood them. These two
birds are the only Florida Gallinules that he has ever seen, and he
attributes their apparent scarcity to the fact that gunners seldom
shoot them on account of the almost impossibility of flushing
them without a good dog, and to their early migration, which
he considers takes place in August, before the opening of the
Rail bird season in September. I do not know when the Florida
Gallinules migrate, but have never heard one in the marsh after
early August.* Whether they had departed for the south or
became silent I do not know. Mr. Axe's description of the eggs
coincides with my eggs, as well as the site and composition of
the nest.

Several gunners wdiom I have interviewed for information
relative to the Florida Gallinule all agree that it is a rare bird
seldom seen and still more rarely shot. All that they have ever
seen or shot have been on the marsh at Richmond in spring
and summer, none later than August. Not one of the gunners
knew the species as Florida Gallinule, though Mr. Axe did, but
they called it Water and Mud Hen, or Red-billed Water Hen.

The existence of the marsh where the Gallinules breed will
be of short duration, as the dump is rapidly encroaching upon
it and is diminishing its size at an alarming rate. In two or
three years, at least, it will be a thing of the past and its
feathered denizens gone to parts unknown.

* There are, however, September and October records in Stone's Birds of
Kaskrn Poinsylvania and New Jersey.

Location of the Media Gracl<le Roost.

The Media Crackle Roost

BY SANFORD OMENSETTER

The Purple Grackle, or Crow Blackbird ( Quiscalus quiscula),
is our most punctual spring migrant. Observations during
twenty years have invariably found it in Delaware county by
March 1st. Essentially a social species, this trait is nowhere
better set forth than in the habit, outside the nesting season, of
assembling in vast flocks to pass the night.

For a number of years Media and vicinity have held special
attractions in the way of roosting-places for the Crackles. Some
two decades ago, especially toward the western gate, where the
imperial Pmdownias, "born to the purple," stood file-leaders to
rows of stately maples, the Court House Square re-echoed nightly
with their not unmusical chatter. As neighbors, great numbers
of the Chimney Swift (Chxtura pelagica) roosted in the recesses
of a large, unused chimney on the Court House. But a storm
came and crushed the maples so badly that most of them had
to be removed, and a capstone was placed upon the chimney, so
that both sets of lodgers reluctantly took their leave. The Swifts
scattered through the town and the Grackles frequented Row-
land's wood and the woodland along Kirk's Lane, on the hill-
side west of Media.

Just previous to this. Third street in Media had been con-
tinued westward across the valley which until the early 70' s
contained the borough water-works, and the grading turned
Broomall's Run, an unpretentious stream, into a lake of several
acres' extent. On the eastern side of the lake and stream the
old ' ' Camp Meeting Woods, ' ' principally chestnut, was wrought
up for commercial purposes. For several years this cleared
area was a fine harbor for rabbits, but as the chestnut sprouts
grew apace, the discerning Grackles came each year in larger
hordes until, of late years, in the autumn, they might be num-

(33)

34 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

bered by tens of thousands. Their daily arrival and departure
have become a feature of our borough life.

None so soon to waken as our feathered foragers : even while
the stars stand sentinel at the gates of the summer morn, all is
bustle in the colony. Upon their sallying forth, quiet reigns
until, toward sunset, when the long platoons wend their way from
different feeding-grounds toward Media. Ever and anon a de-
tachment will suddenly dive and resume flight at a lower level,
while before repairing for final rest a number frequent the head-
waters of the lake, bathing or drinking, and chattering as if ex-
changing gossip of the day.

Why this locality should have been selected for roosting pur-
poses remains an open problem. The presence, in years past,
of a goodly array of coniferous trees, a half-mile distant, in
Media Cemetery, may have had some bearing. As such trees
grew scarcer, and the progeny reared in their branches became
more numerous, lack of lodgings may have brought a dispersion
and final abandonment of that secure retreat.

The Pennsylvania Legislature, by Act of April 22nd, 1905,
removed the Grackle from the list of hitherto protected species
and classed it among the game birds, with an open season from
September 1st to the first day of January following. The in-
creased activity of gunners has led the greater number of the
birds to desert their accustomed haunts and pre-empt safer quar-
ters in the evergreens and taller trees in the western part of the
town. From these the southward passage was taken on Novem-
ber 1st, and but few stragglers have since been seen.

Of sombre plumage, songless, detested by the farmer, a pil-
ferer of the nests of other birds — still we feel we cannot do with-
out the Grackle. His arrival tells us that winter has been
passed, and is a prophecy of the halycon days to follow.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

The number of birds frequenting the Grackle roost at Media
has been very much smaller this autumn than usual. The
repeal of the law protecting the Grackle has had a very de-
moralizing effect.

For sometime after the birds began flocking to their accus-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 35

tomed place, scarcely a morning or evening passed when they
were not startled by the report of a gun. A few feathers here
and there in the woods would seem to indicate that some of tne
birds, at least, must have lost their lives.

A local paper is authority for the statement that some persons
actually resorted to the unsportsmanlike practice of shooting
them after they had gone to roost. The consequence is that the
birds were greatly disturbed and scattered. In fact the disturb-
ance has continued during the past two or three j^ears notwith-
standing some effort to prevent it. Our home is so situated that
the birds flocking in at night from the south and west pass over
or near us and it has long been a delight to hear and watch them
coming. We have often seen unbroken streams of blackbirds
extending from the roost westward as far as we could see, an
air-line of something over a mile, and these great streams would
usually last for some minutes.

On October 15, 1905, I visited the roost from 5:15 to 5:45
p. m. and saw only about one hundred birds which flew about
but did not, I think, roost here finally. Some Grackles
found shelter for the night in the trees of the Friends' Meeting-
House yard, and continued to congregate there until November
18, but on subsequent visits to the old roost no birds were to be
seen and it is my opinion that it was entirely abandoned this
year for sometime prior to the departure of the birds for the
south. — Lydia 0. Allen.

In the late autumn of 1894, I visited this roost about dusk.
The birds were there by thousands and had apparently nearly
all come in but had not yet quieted down for the night. In
fact, nearly every bird seemed to be calling and the resultant
sound at a distance of a quarter of a mile closely resembled the
steady discharge of steam from a gigantic locomotive. It is sad
to think of the passing of such an impressive ornithological
phenomenon. — Witmer Stone.

The Overbrook Crackle Roost

BY C. J. PECK

The Overbrook Grackle Roost is situated upon the property
of Mr. David L. Hess at the corner of Sixtj'-third street and
Lansdowne avenue, Philadelphia. The estate comprises about
ten acres, is rolling and wooded and has an artificial lake of
about an acre in extent. The trees are deciduous with a goodly
sprinkling of conifers and are of fair size. The roost has been
in constant use for more than twenty years — how much more I
have been unable to ascertain.

January. — Fewer birds use the roost during this month than
at any other time of the year. On a few very severe nights the
roost may be deserted, but such nights are rare and usually four
or five hundred birds remain throughout the month.

February. — The first three weeks of the month are very similar
to January, the number of Crackles varying from none to several
hundred according as the weather is mild or severe. During
the last week of the month the migration begins and the num-
ber of birds is considerably increased by early arrivals from the
south. Probably five thousand birds use the roost during the
last few days of February.

March. — The number of birds rapidly increases throughout
the month until from twenty to twenty-five thousand are using
the roost nightly.

April and May. — About AjDril 15th, as the birds mate and
nest-building begins, the numbers grow fewer and continue in a
steady decline through the month. Comparitively few birds
visit the roost in May, but the number never seems to fall below
two or three thousand — birds which have not mated as yet or else
males which have nests near by, probably both. Mr. Hunt's
observations at Fifty-sixth and Jefferson streets seem to agree
with and emphasize the above.

June. June is very much like May except that very few

(36)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 37

females visit the roost and towards the last of the month young
birds begin to come in in company with the males.

July. — Most of the birds come to the roost as family groups
during July. At this time of year they do not follow any
regular lines of flight but come in from every direction, mostly
flying low and often stopping to feed along the way.

August. — All this is changed soon after August 1st. The birds
have for the most part completed their domestic cares and family
groups are rapidly consolidated into large flocks which come to
the roost from considerable distances. The numbers are very
greatly increased and the birds in flying to and from the roost
follow much more closely a regular well defined route.

September and October. — During September and October the
greatest numbers are reached and the birds come in at night in
great flights, one flock following another so closely as to give the
impression of a single long-drawn-out flock. The flight begins
about 5:30 p. m. and lasts for about twenty or twenty-five min-
utes, but scattered birds and small flocks continue to come in
until dark. I believe that from fifty to seventy-five thousand
birds visit the roost every night during these two months.

November. — The birds come regularly to the roost until they
begin to go south about the middle of the month where two or
three nights are sufficient to finish the large flights.

December. — Quite a number of birds remain over into Decem-
ber, probably double the number to be found in January but
upon very cold nights they are quite likely to be entirely absent,
returning again as soon as the weather moderates.

Robins use the roost to the number of one thousand or more,
their numbers being hard to judge with any degree of accuracy
on account of the way they mix with the Grackles.

On a visit paid to the roost on September 17th, I was sur-
prised at the large number of birds which still showed marked
evidence of the molt. While fully one-fifth of the birds lacked
one or more flight feathers, this number was insignificant com-
pared to the number showing faulty tails. Not over one-tenth
of the birds observed had tails which could be called even ap-
proximately perfect.

Birds whose tails were fully developed seemed to have the

38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

wing feathers equally perfect, but when the tails were only partly
grown the wings might be equally backward or perfectly de-
veloped, depending, apparently, somewhat upon the growth of
the tail, the wings reaching full size first.

About one-half the birds with imperfect tails had all the
feathers present and of perfect form but one to one and one-half
inches long ; one-fourth had a short new tail like the above but
with one or more of the old feathers sticking far out beyond the
end of the new ones ; while the remaining one-fourth had tails
of every conceivable growth, many being without any tail at all.

All the Robins which I observed were in full plumage.*

No Red-wings have been known to visit the roost with the
Grackles but several Screech Owls seem to be entirely at home
there. I have heard as many as four calling at once and do not
doubt that double this number might be found in the vicinity.

The following notes on the evening flights were taken Septem-
ber 17th :

5 J). TO. — No birds in sight and none to be heard. Very few
birds seem to remain near the roost during the day.

5:35 p. m. — A few small flocks are coming in, but not to any
extent as yet. As they arrive they keep up a constant calling
and shifting from tree to tree.

5:50 p. TO. — A flock of 1,000 just arrived with a great deal of
calUug and commotion.

5:55 p. m. — Large flight now beginning from the northwest
and birds are coming in, in a steady stream.

6 p. TO. — Still larger flight from the northwest now begins.
Birds continue to come in from both the flights already noted
and also from a southwesterly direction. There are now prob-
ably 20,000 birds on the place.

6:10 p. m. — 60,000 birds now here. They are continally
shifting about in the trees and 1,000 to 1,500 are walking about
on the lawn.

♦Specimens that I have examined indicate that adult Grackles are later than
the juTena! birds in completing their molt. Some secured October 22 have
the tails only three-quarters grown. Old and young Robins molt about the
same time in August and September, and are through earlier than the adult
Grackles. Young Grackles, moreover, have a complete molt at this season,
while young Robins do not molt the wing and tail feathers. — Ed.

DELAWAKE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 39

6:15 p. m. — 3,000 birds on one small section of lawn. They
do not seem to be feeding, merely waiting for darkness.

6:20 p. m. — The flight is about over and the birds are walking
about on the lawn or flying about in the trees keeping up a
continual clatter. There are a few Robins on the lawn with the
Grackles but they are silent. Only rarely is a Robin heard.

6:S0 p. m. — Only a few hundred birds now on the lawn and
the birds in the trees are at least a little less noisy. As it grows
darker under the trees the volume of sound grows gradually less.
As the Grackles subside the Robins can be more plainly heard
and at the present time (6:35) about five hundred are calling.
They are scattered all about among the Grackles.

6:^5 p. m. — Darkness and silence reign.

The gardener employed ujDon the place, informs me that after
the storm of September 13th, he picked up over a peck of dead
Robins — 50 or 75 birds or about seven per cent, of the number
then using the roost. Not one Grackle was found dead although
they outnumbered the Robins nearly 100 to 1.

On the morning of October 2nd I had an opportunity of ob-
serving the birds of the northwestern flight as they left the
roost. They flew as a single flock, stretching out in a long
column from 50 to 100 feet wide and were ten minutes in pass-
ing over. There were no Robins in this flight. They leave the
roost in small scattered flocks and in pairs, from fifteen to thirty
minutes ahead of the Grackles.

December 18, 1905. — With considerable regret I am compelled
by conditions at the roost to add this final observation, probably
the last that will ever be made at this roosting site.

Extensive building operations accompanied by heavy blasting,
and the reopening and enlargement of several quarries in the
vicinity of the roost has had its inevitable result, and the Over-
brook Grackle Roost as an extensive roosting site is a thing of
the past.

These heavy blasts have left their mark upon the entire bird
life of this vicinity. Numbers are much diminished and often
the birds seem dazed and listless. I have several times picked
up birds stunned by the concussion of some of the heavier shots
and unhatched eggs have been very common the past two years

June Birds of Fulton County, Pa.

BY WITHER STONE

A COUNTY Tvithout a railroad would seem to be an attractive
spot for a lover of nature, and Fulton being distinguished in
this way from all the other counties of Pennsylvania, claimed
our attention for a few days in June, 1905. Dr. Wm. E.
Hughes and William L. Baily had planned the trip in the hope
of learning more of the breeding habits of some of the Warblers
and other Alleghanian species which occur along the broken
chains of the Appalachian system farther north in the state,
and it was my good fortune to be able to join them.

We left the sleeper early on the morning of June 3 at Cham-
bersburg and travelled to Mercersburg on a winding single-track
road through a rich agricultural district with alternating fields
of ripening wheat, timothy grass and growing corn. It was a
clear, cool, delightful June morning, and the familiar notes of
the farmland birds floated in from every side. One could make
up a good day's list from ear alone without leaving the car; and
with the familiar songs came the oft-recurring reflection — what
was such a region like in the primaeval days? What were
the original haunts of the Barn Swallow and the Chipping
Sparrow? And what was the native flora of the farmer's acres
where everything is now either cultivated or a weed ? Questions
I fear which will not soon be answered.

But the country through which we had just passed brought
up other thoughts as well. The region is historic, for this was
the boyhood hunting-ground of Prof. Spencer F. Baird, and
from his home at Carlisle, before any thought of the Smith-
sonian or the Fish Commission had entered his mind, he
roamed over these valleys and onto the hills which skirt them,
gathering the materials for his List of the Birds of Carlisle and
Vicinity, published in 1844 — one of the first local lists of Amer-

(40)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 41

ican birds, and one which set the standard for the hundreds
that have followed.

Arrived at Mercersburg, we made the last stage of our journey
by wagon over the Tuscarora Mountain, which marks the east-
ern boundary of Fulton county, and down the other side into
another valley much like the one we had left to McConnells-
burg, the county-seat, where we made our headquarters. The
Tuscarora Mountain is a steep, narrow, outlying ridge of the
Appalachians, nearly flat on top, and well wooded with decidious
trees and bushes. Red-eyed Vireos, Ovenbirds, Chewinks,
Wood Pewees, and other typical woodland birds, were heard
continually, and the clear song of the Hooded Warbler accom-
panied us quite to the summit. Here, also, we later found
some feathers of the Wild Turkey and spots where the noble
birds had evidently been scratching about among the leaves.
This is a well-known Turkey country and not a few are yearly
brought in by the gunners.* Rattlesnakes are also of frequent
occurrence, and several recently killed were to be seen along the
roadside. And on the top of this same mountain we had one
of those tantalizing and yet instructive experiences that now
and then fall to the lot of the bird-student. A new note came
to us from the tree-tops, something different from anything with
which we were familiar. A tiresome search failed to obtain a
good view of the songster, and the gun was finally brought into
play, when, lo, we had before us a Red-eyed Vireo!

The valley in which nestles the village of McConnellsburg we
found to be to a great extent Carolinian, as evidenced by the
occurrence of such birds as the Tufted Titmouse and Cardinal
Grosbeak, but on the ridges to the west, known as Scrub and
Meadow Ground Mountain, we found ti'aces of the Alleghanian
fauna, in the presence of Chestnut-sided and Blackburnian
Warblers, while a bog on the latter elevation sheltered a few

*Mr. S. N. Rhoads flushed a Turkey hen with a brood of young when cross-
ing the ridge of mountains bordering the western side of Fulton Co., in June,
1894. Cf. Auk, 1899, p. 310, where date and range are wrongly given.

Mr. E. A. Preble, in June, 1893, found a nest with fourteen eggs in Somerset
Co., Pa., some miles farther west. Cf. Judd, Bull. 24, Biol. Survey U. S. Dept.
Agr.

42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

northern species of plants. From the summit of Scrub ridge
we looked off from a precipitous cliS over an immense culti-
vated valley stretching away to the western boundary of the
county, where another wall of mountains interrupted the view,
though above them we could see faintly outlined the main
chain of the Alleghanies.

The view here was superb, and as an interesting foreground
setting there was an old nest occupying a ledge in the rocks
where they jutted out farther than usual, which we looked
upon as a possible former home of the Raven, a bird which is
well-known to frequent this vicinity. Far down below us, too,
was a tall pine-tree bearing at its very summit a Red-tailed
Hawk's nest containing two young, which we could study with
ease by the aid of a glass, while the parent birds circled above
and below us in great concern.

These ridges were all covered with deciduous trees or with
pines — the pitch and Table Mountain pines predominating with
some considerable patches of white pine. Those who ought to
know told us that hemlock had never covered these mountains,
and certainly there was no evidence of the noble forest which
once enveloped the main Alleghanian plateau, and of which
fragments still remain in Sullivan and Wyoming and Somerset
counties, though rapidly disappearing to satisfy the greed of the
lumbermen.

It was equally evident that we were too far east and at too
low an elevation to expect more than a tinge of the Alleghanian
fauna, and the event showed that our most interesting experi-
ences were connected with one exception with southern rather
than northern birds.

Toward the southeastern corner of the county the first valley
becomes quite narrow, and eventually near Big Cove Tannery
the mountains run together. In this section we found our
most interesting birds, species which only at one or two points
regularly cross the Mason and Dixon line. These were the
Bewick's Wren Thryomanes heivickii and Red-bellied Woodpecker
Centurus carolinm. We saw but one of the former, which flew
about the barn and outbuilding of a farm-house, perched for
a long time on the topmost twig of a buttonwood pouring out

DELAWAEE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 43

his song, and then skulked away along a fence-row, scolding in
the usual manner of the Wrens. The bird in its attitudes
recalled the larger Carolina Wren, its song, however, was quite
different, distantly reminding one of the Song Sparrow's ditty
in the sudden rise at the beginning and the final trill, but
it is shorter, more emphatic, and of a different quality. Mr.
S. N. Rhoads had heard several of these birds on the top of
Tuscarora Mountain in June, 1894, when he crossed the county
on his bicycle. The Woodpeckers we encountered in a large
walnut-tree in a meadow where they were making a great dis-
turbance about some holes, one of which no doubt contained
their young.

As we drove back to McConnellsburg we passed two birds
sitting on the top rail of the roadside fence which we recognized
at once as Prairie Horned Larks Otocoris a. praticola. We
stopped, and as if to make identification doubly sure, the birds
hopped down into the road and ran about close to the carriage
wheels, feeding and chasing each other. They seemed evidently
to be mated, and doubtless had a nest near by, for after some
fifteen minutes they whirled away over the field to the east and
disappeared. This is so far as I know the most southern
summer record of this bird east of the Alleghanies.

The following is compiled from Mr. Baily's lists, which dur-
ing the four days contained a total of seventy-two species:

I. Birds seen in the valley about McConnellsburg —

Killdeer Plover, Crested Flycatcher,

Bobwhite, Phoebe,

Mourning Dove, Wood Pewee,

Turkey Vulture, Prairie Horned Lark,

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Crow,

Kingfisher, Cowbird,

Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-winged Blackbird,

Flicker, Meadow Lark,

Night Hawk, Orchard Oriole,

Chimney Swift, Baltimore Oriole,

Hummingbird, Purple Grackle,

Kingbird, Goldfinch,

44

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Vesper Sparrow,
Grasshopper Sparrow,
Chipping Sparrow,
Field Sparrow,
Song Sparrow,
Cardinal,
Indigobird,
Purple Marten,
Clifif Swallow,
Barn Swallow,
Bank Swallow,
Cedarbird,

II. Additional species in
Woodcock,
Ruffed Grouse,
Sharp-shinned Hawk,
Red-tailed Hawk,
Hairy Woodpecker,
Downy Woodpecker,
Whip-poor-will,
Least Flycatcher,
Blue Jay,
Scarlet Tanager,

Red-eyed Vireo,
Warbling Vireo,
Yellow Warbler,
Maryland Yellow-throat,
Yellow-breasted Chat,
Catbird,

Brown Thrasher,
House Wren,
White-breasted Nuthatch,
Tufted Titmouse,
Robin,
Bluebird.

the wooded slopes of the mountains-
Towhee,

White-eyed Vireo,
Black and White Warbler,
Chestnut-sided Warbler,
Blackburnian Warbler,
Hooded Warbler,
Pine Warbler,
Ovenbird,

Black-capped Chickadee,
Wood Thrush.

III. Additional species seen about Big Cove Tannery —
Red-bellied Woodpecker, Louisiana Water Thrush,

Yellow-throated Vireo, Bewick's Wren.*

* In Ridgway's Birds of North and Middle America, III, p. 554, Susquehanna
County, Pa., is given as within the range of this bird. This is not one of the
" southern and western " counties as stated, but in the extreme northeastern
part of the state and largely boreal in its fauna. The record of Bewick's
Wren from this county is obviously erroneous and is probably to be explained
as follows : Mr. Ridgway based his statement on the localities given by Mr.
Oberholser in his monograph of this genus (Proc. U. S. N. M., 1898), which
were not accompanied by the names of the respective counties. One of the
specimens in the Carnegie Museum collection was cited as from " Springville,
Pa." Mr. W. E. C. Todd kindly informs me that this locality is in Bedford
Co., while the only ' ' Springville, Pa.," in the gazetteers is in Susquehanna Co.
[See beyond, p. 66, for additional data.]

Summer Birds of Milford, Pike County, Pa.

BY E. SEYMOUR WOODRUFF

The following list is made up from my notes of a number of
excursions — mostly short ones — taken between the dates of July
8 and September 9, 1905, inclusive, while I was at the sum-
mer camp of the Yale Forest School, near Milford, Pike county,
Pennsylvania. The list is not as complete as it might have been
had I had more time at my disposal, for there were several
localities in the near neighborhood where a more exhaustive
search than I was able to make would probably have yielded up
more species of birds.

Milford lies on the west bank of the Delaware river, eight
miles southwest of the point at which meet the boundaries of
the three states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and
has an altitude of about 500 feet above sea level. The valley of
the Delaware on the Pennsylvania side of the river is a sand and
gravel flood-plain averaging about a half-mile in width. To the
west of this the land rises suddenly, in some places precipi-
touslj', reaching an altitude of from 1,000 to 1,200 feet, and is
deeply dissected by numerous valleys containing beautiful little
streams, often rushing and tumbling in a series of cascades and
falls through deep and narrow ravines till they reach the valley
of the Delaware below. The largest of these is the Sawkill.

In spite of these numerous valleys, the general impression one
gets from a view from any high point is that it is a compara-
tively level country, for the tops of all the hills are at about the
same height, none breaking the level line of the horizon.

The soil is nothing but more or less (mostly less) disinte-
grated shale, so dry and infertile in spite of numerous springs
as to be almost worthless for agricultural purposes, the only pro-
duct that can be raised with any fair profit being buckwheat.
The result is that the country is still thickly wooded with very

(45)

46 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

few clearings outside of the Delaware Valley, while many of the
roads are hardly more than back trails.

The forests are made up of mixed pitch-pine, white-pine, oak
and other hard-woods — the pitch-pine being especially common
— with a dense undergrowth of huckleberry and scrub oaks
(Quercus nana and Q. prinoides) wherever the woods have in
past years been opened up by the axe or by forest fires. In
some sections of considerable extent the scrub oaks grow so
densely as to make any progress through them not only ex-
tremely difficult, but often practically impossible. Hemlock
is not very common, bvit is found along the sides of many of the
ravines, often accompanied by a dense growth of wild rhodo-
dendron.

Five and seven miles to the west of Milford are two ponds
known respectively as Sawkill Pond, the source of the stream of
that name, and Big Brink, which are especially interesting be-
cause of the presence, in their immediate vicinity, of two sphag-
num swamps containing a more or less dense growth of larch
and black spruce. Another but much smaller spruce swamp,
known as Gregory Swamp, lies about four and one-half miles to
the northwest of Milford.

The most interesting fact with respect to the birds found as
summer residents, was the intermingling of such northern
species as the Blue-headed Vireo and the Magnolia, Black-
burnian. Black-throated Blue, Mourning and Canadian War-
blers, with rejaresentatives of a more southern fauna, such as the
Orchard Oriole and the Worm-eating and Hooded Warblers.

The following list is made up of only those birds which I saw
or secured myself, and of whose identification there can be no
question. I did not get to Milford till the breeding season was
nearly over, and several of the species noted were not met with
till after the middle or end of July ; but with the exception of
the Myrtle, Bay-breasted, Black-poll and Wilson's Warblers
and Olive-sided Fly-catcher, and possibly the Purple Finch and
Bobolink, they are all undoubtedly birds that passed the breed-
ing season in that region.

Perhaps the most noteworthy record in the list is the early
date (August 20th) for the arrival of the Myrtle Warbler. To

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 47

the best of my knowledge this is the earliest fall record for this
bird in Pennsylvania.

1. Butorides virescens, Green Heron. Two or three seen along
the Sawkill and Delaware river.

2. Actitis niacularia, Spotted Sandpiper. Sawkill and Dela-
ware river and Sawkill Pond. Not common.

3. Bonasa umbelhis, Ruffed Grouse. Fairly common.

4. Zenaidura macroura, Mourning Dove. Common. Always
to be found in the neighborhood of buckwheat fields.

6. Cathartes aura, Turkey Vulture. A bird unquestionably
a vulture, and probably this species flew over the camp July
8 and July 22.

6. Accipiter velox, Sharp-shinned Hawk. One seen near Saw-
kill Pond July 15.

7. Accipiter cooperi, Cooper' s Hawk. Only one seen, July 22.

8. Buteo lineatus, Eed-shouldered Hawk. Not common.

9. £it<eo 6orea&, Red-tailed Hawk. Not common. One pair
near camp.

10. Buteo platypierus, Broad-winged Hawk. Not common.
A brood was raised close to the camp.

11. Haliseetus leucocephalm, Bald Eagle. One seen over the
Delaware August 23.

12. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, Black-hilled Cnckoo. Not com-
mon.

13. Ceryle alcyon, Belted Kingfisher. Two or three pair along
the Sawkill.

14. Dryobates villosus, Hairy Woodpecker. Fairly common.

15. Dryobates pubescens medianus, Northern Downj^ Wood-
pecker. About the same as preceding species ; perhaps a little
more common.

16. Colaptes auratus luteus, Northern Flicker. Not common.

17. Antrostomus vociferus, Whip-poor-will. Common.

18. Chordeiles virginianus, 'i^ighiha.w'k. Common. A marvel-
ous flight of these birds passed over the camp between the hours
of 3:30 and 6:30 on the afternoon of August 30 coming up
from the Delaware Valley flying due west.

19. Chsetura pelagica, Chimney Swift. Common.

20. Trochilus colubris, Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Com-
mon.

48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

21. Tyrannxis tyrannus, Kingbird. Not common.

22. Myiarchus crinitus. Crested Flycatcher. Very common.
The most abundant of all the Flycatchers.

23. Sayornis phoebe, Phoebe. Not common.

24. Nuttallornis borealis, Olive-sided Flycatcher. Rare mi-
grant. One seen September 5.

25. Contopus virens, Wood Pewee. Common.

26. Empidonax traillii alnorum, Alder Flycatcher. Rare. Two
or three seen July 16 in alders along the shore of Sawkill Pond.

27. Empidonax minimus, Least Flycatcher. Not common.
Occasionally seen about orchards.

28. CyanociUa cristata, Blue Jay. Fairly common.

29. Corvus brachyrhynchos, American Crow. Fairly common.

30. DoVichonyx oryzivorus, Bobolink. A small flock seen
August 28 in the Delaware V^alley. Only ones seen throughout
the season.

31. Agelaius phoeniceus, Red-winged Blackbird. Not com-
mon. Seen only at Sawkill Pond and along the Delaware.

32. Icterus spurius, Orchard Oriole. Rare. One seen July
16th.

33. Icterus galbula, Baltimore Oriole. Uncommon.

34. Quiscalus quiscula, Purple Grackle. Not common. One
flock of twelve birds seen July 21 in Milford.

35. Carpodacus purpureus, Purple Finch. Uncommon mi-
grant. Several seen on Sawkill pike August 13 and Septem-
ber 9.

36. Astragalinus tristis, American Goldfinch. Fairly common.

37. Pocecetes gramineus, Vesper Sparrow. Fairly common.

38. Coturnicidus savannarum passerinus, Grasshopper Sparrow.
Common in the Delaware Valley. Occasional in large clearings
elsewhere.

39. Ammodramiis henslowii, Henslow's Sparrow. Rare. One
heard and seen in Delaware Valley July 22.

40. Spizella socialis, Chipping Sparrow. Common, especially
in burnt-over pitch pine forests containing a thick undergrowth
of huckleberry bushes.

41. Spizella pusilla, Field Sparrow. The most abundant of all
the birds.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 49

42. 3Ielospiza cinei-ea melodia, Song Sparrow. Common in
Delaware Valley and about the village of Milford, but rarely-
seen elsewhere.

43. Melospiza georgiana, Swamp Sparrow. Rare. A small
colony about Sawkill Pond.

44. Pipilo erythrophthalmus, Towhee. Most abundant, especi-
ally in scrub oak lands.

45. Oyanospiza q/anea, Indigo Bunting. Common.

46. Piranga erythromelas, Scarlet Tanager. Common.

47. Petrochclidon lunifrons, Cliii' Swallow. Common. The
commonest of all the Swallows.

48. Hirundo erythrogasfra, Barn Swallow. Common.

49. Iridoprocne bicolor, Tree Swallow. Common about Saw-
kill Pond.

50. Riparia riparia, Bank Swallow. Not common. A few
about Sawkill Pond.

51. Ampelis cedrorum, Cedar Waxwing. Common.

52. Vireo olivaceus, Red-ej'ed Vireo. Very common.

53. FtVeo_/ZaOTjro7is, Yellow-throated Vireo. Rare. One seen
August 20 in the spruce swamp at Sawkill Pond.

54. Vireo solitarius, Blue-headed Vireo. Quite common.

55. Mniotilta varia, Black-and-White Warbler. The most
abundant of all the Warblers.

56. Helmitherus verrmivorus, Worm-eating Warbler. Rare.
Only four specimens seen. One July 28, two July 29 and one
August 13.

57. Helminthophila chrysoptera, Golden-winged Warbler.
Fairly common, especially in scrub-oak lands. None seen after
August 13th.

58. Helminthophila rubricapilla, Nashville Warbler. Rare.
July 21, 23, August 13, 20 and September 3.

59. Compsothlypis americana usnese, Parula Warbler. Rare.
July 9, 16, 30 and August 20.

60. Dendroica caerulescens, Black-throated Blue Warbler. Not
common.

61. Dendroica corono^a, Myrtle Warbler. Migrant. Two seen
August 20, one of which, an adult male I secured and another
September 5. None others seen.

50 PROCEEDIXGS OP THE

62. Dendroica maculosa, Magnolia \A'arbler. Summer resi-
dent, but not common. Very common as a migrant after Sep-
tember 1.

63. Dendroica pennsyhanica, Chestnut-sided Warbler. Com-
mon.

64. Dendroica castanexi, Bay-breasted Warbler. Migrant. One
August 21 and three September 3.

65. DmrfroiVn^^nnta, Black-poll Warbler. Migrant. Several
seen September 3.

66. Dendroica hlackbumise, Blackbumian Warbler. Fairly
common in pitch-pine woods.

67. Dendroica virens, Black-throated Green Warbler. A scarce
summer resident, but abundant as a migrant after August 26.

68. Dendroica vigorsii, Pine Warbler. Common in burnt-over
pitch-pine forests.

69. Seittrus aurocapillus, Ovenbird. Most abundant

70. Seiurus viofacUla, Louisiana Water Thrush. Not com-
mon, but every little stream had its pair.

71. Geothlx/pis Philadelphia, Mourning Warbler. Very rare.
One seen July 8 and another July 14, both females. The
latter spent at least five minutes within ten or fifteen feet of me
— too close to shoot, but so close that there covdd be no ques-
tion as to its identity.

72. Geothlypi-s trichas brachidactyla. Northern Yellow-throat.
Common.

73. Wilsonia miirata, Hooded Warbler. Very rare. An adult
male August 3 and a female August 13 in a spruce swamp near
Big Brink Pond.

74. Wilsonia pusilla, Wilson's Warbler. Migrant. One adult
male September 5 ; only one seen.

75. Wilsonia canadensis, Canadian Warbler. Not common,
but always to be found in suitable locahties.

76. Setophaga ruiicilla, American Redstart. Common.

77. Galeoscoptes carolinensis, Catbird. Common.

78. Tozostoma nifum. Brown Thrasher. Common.

79. Troglodytes aedon. House ^^'ren. Common about every
orchard and farm.

80. Siita carolinensis, White-breasted Nuthatch, well distri-
buted but not common.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 51

81. Parus atricapillus, Chickadee. Common.

82. Hylodchlamv.gielina, Wood Thrash. Not common, though
often heard singing near the camp early in Julj'.

83. Hylocichla fuHcescens, Wilson's Thrush. Rare. Very few
suitable places for them. Found only in Gregory Swamp and
about Sawkill Pond.

84. Merula migratoria, American Robin. Fairly common,
but not nearly so common as in less wooded localities.

85. Sialia sialis, Bluebird. Common.

Report on the Spring Migration of 190^

COMPILED BY WITHER STONE

Through the activity of Mr. Samuel C. Palmer, chairman of
the Club's Migration Committee,* thirteen additional migration
reports were secured for the spring of 1905, while there were but
seven of last year's corps who failed to respond. The 1905 list
of sixty observers follows :

New Jersey.
Cape May, H. Walker Hand.
Downstown (near Nevvfield), W. W. Fair.
Yardville, Rachel E. Allinson.
Trenton, Laura E. Woodward.

Trenton, halfway to Bordentown, C. C. and R. M. Abbott.
Bordentown, William McFarland.
Summit, LaRue K. Holmes.
Beverly, J. Fletcher Street.
Burlington, Helen F. Carter.
Moorestown, Anna A. Mickle.
Moorestown, Wm. B. Evans and others.
Rancocas, Emily Haines.
Haddonfield, Mrs. E. M. Hamlin.
Haddonfield, H. E. Doughty.

Pennsylvania.
Kennett Square, Charles J. Pennock.
Concordville, Mrs. K. R. Styer.
Concordville, Joseph H. Willits.
Lena]ie, C. Carter and C. S. Carter.
Westtown, Edith Sniedley, Susanna Smedley, etc.
West Chester, W. E. Roberts.
West Chester, Thomas H. Jackson.

* All requests, or blank schedules, etc.. slioulil be adilre-sed to Mr. S. C.
Palmer, Swarthmnre, Delaware Co., Pa.

(52)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 53

Knowlton, Bruce P. Tyler.
Swarthmore, Samuel C. Palmer.
Swarthmore, George S. Roberts.
Lansdowne, John D. Carter.
Lansdowne, Louisa M. Jacob.
Lansdowne, Aldricb J. Pennock.
],ansdowne, Anna D. White.
Lansdowne, Friends' School.
Lansdowne, W. R. White.
Collingdale, Paul L. Lorrilliere.
Secane, Edwin L. Palmer.
Media, Lydia G. Allen.
Media, Philii:> H. Moore.
Media, Alice Fussell.
Media, Ellen Fussell.
Overbrook, C. J. Hunt.
Overbrook, Elmer Onderdonk.
West Philadelphia, J. H. Steele.
Ardmore, Win. L. Baily.
Haverford, W. J. Serrill.
Haverford, H. Albert Linton.
Radnor, Chas. H. Rogers.
Bryn Mawr, Miss Emily H. Thomas.
Germantown, Stewardson Brown.
Germantown, Arthur F. Hager.
Germantown, Paul C. Brewer.
Wissahickon, John R. Pickering.
Hunting Park, Alexander Patman.
Olney, George S. Morris.
Oak Lane, Richard 0. Harlow.
Frankford, Richard F. Miller.
Bristol, Thomas D. Keim.
Woodbourne, Edward Pickering, Jr.
George School, Students.
Perkasie, Albert C. Rutter.
Marietta, W. H. Buller.
Columbia, J. Jay ^^'isler.
W^illiamsport, August Koch.

54 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Lopez, Otto Behr.

The records of arrival of all the species at the stations within
ten miles of Philadelphia will be found in the accompaning
tables, while the large schedule contains the arrivals of the more
common species at the remaining stations. I am much indebted
to Mr. Paul L. Lorrilliere for aid in compiling these data.

The method explained on page 48 of Cassinia for 1904, seems
to furnish the most accurate record of the arrival of a species in
a given district, that can be obtained from a combination of field
observations. Instead of expecting our records to show a i;ni-
form date of arrival at all stations within a radius of say ten
miles, it seems more likely that a correct statement of the pro-
gress of migration of a species will be that individuals arrived at
certain stations on such and such dates and that the bulk move-
ment occurred on a later date indicated by the simultaneous
arrival at a large number of stations. Sometimes this bulk
movement is not so well marked, which would seem to indicate
a continuous migration of the species covering a greater period.
A few examples from the 1905 records will serve to illustrate
these remarks.

Chimney Sufifl. Scarlet Tanager.

April 13. Frankford. April 21. Collingdale.

April 18. Bryn Mawr and May 2. Media.

Lansdowne. May 3. Lansdowne, Olney,
April 19. Bordentown. Westtown, Knowlton.

April 20. Nine stations. I\Iay 5. Four stations.

April 21. Eighteen stations. May 6. Six stations.

May 7. Seven stations.

Ovenhird. Wood Thrush.

April 25. West Philadelphia, April 23. Germantown.

Concordville. April 24. Oak Lane.

April 26. Kennett. April 25. Media, Haverford.

April 27. Swarthmore,' West- April 26. Frankford.

town. April 27. Olney, Bordentown.

April 28. Haverford. April 28. Six stations.

April 29. Nine stations. April 29. One station.

April 30. Twelve stations. April 30. Eight stations.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

55

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pie Grackle .
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Chimney Swift Apr.23

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Mar. 2 7

Kingbird May 4 Maj' 3

Crested Flycatcher May 7 Mav 3

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Bobolink

Cowbird Res

Red-winged Blackbird Res. Mar.lO

Baltimore Oriole May 2 May 1

Purple (Crackle Mar. 1) Mar. 4

Cliipping Sparrow Mar. 9 Mar.29

Clicwink Apr. 9 Apr. 9

Indigobird

Scarlet Tanager May 14

Purple Martin Mar.27

Barn Swallow Apr.14 Apr.30

Red-ej'ed Vireo May 6

Black and White Warbler Apr.29JMay 2

Chestnut-sided Warbler May 7

Oveobird .^pr.29 Apr.26

Maryland Yellow-throat May 7 Apr.30"'

Chat May 8 May 7

Catbird Apr.23'Apr.30

Brown Thrasher May 8 Apr.14

House Wren Apr.21

Wood Thrush May 7

Hermit Thrush Apr. 2

Robin Mar. ."iMar.n

Bluebird Mar. ] Mar. 2

Apr. 24

S^

Feb.28;Mar.l9

Apr.2I
May 7
Apr.30
Apr.30
Mar. 1 8
May 1
Mar. 23

Apr.21

Apr.21

May 24,.\pr.2!
Apr.26lMuv :
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May 7|May
Mar.l9JMar.l9
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May lOiMay

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May 6
Mar.30
Apr. 25
May 7

May 2
May 8
Apr.ao
Apr.26
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May 6

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Mar.:
Apr. :
May 2:
May '

Apr.22
May 2
May 7

Mar. 6
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Apr.
May
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Apr. 11
Apr.26
May 1
Apr. 6
Feb. 26

Mar. 1
Mar.25

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Apr. 15
May 3
May 2

May
May
Apr.29
-Apr. 11

May 5
Apr. 9
Mar.

Mar. 5 Mar.lO

Apr.21

May 6|'May 18

May
May 3]May
Mar.l
May
Mar. 19
Mar. 13j.Mar. 11
May 5|May 3
Mar 10 Mar. 11
Mar. 2 7

Apr. 11
Mav 6
May 3

Apr. 24
May 8

Apr. 10
May

May28l

Apr.2llApr.20
.May 7. May 10
May 3{M«y
.May 3; May
Mar. 17 Mar.28

Apr.26

May 81

Apr.27 May
.Apr.23 May

Mar. 19

Mar 17iMar.l9
May 7|May 8
Mar. 7 1 Mar.
Mar.2GMBr.28
Apr. 18 Apr.22
Mav 7:May 12
May 10 May 3 -May 13

Apr,23|

Apr.23 ;Apr.30

May 5JMay

Apr.22|Apr.30

Apr.28

Apr.30'Apr.30

Apr.23]Apr.30

I

Mar.27 Mar.l8;Mar.l4

....' Apr.23

....] Apr.21

Apr.21 Apr.20 Apr.23lAprl9
May 8 May 10 May 7JMay
May 6 May 20 May 6 May

May eJMay 9 May 6

Mar. 5 Mar. 19 Apr. 3

Apr. 9

.May 20 Mar. 9Mar.l5

Apr.29lMay 3j.May 6]May 7
Apr.28jMay ;iJApr.3olApr.30
.Apr.23LApr.l9;Apr.23LApr.22
.Apr.26'Apr.24 May 6!May 3
.Apr.28jMay 6 Apr.28|May 7

Apr.l4| 'Apr.22

Mar.I3(Mar.lO Feb.21 Mar. 8
.Mar. 5[ Res. Mar. 1 Mar. 6

May 8Apr.30Mayl4
Mar. 10 Mai-.
Apr. 5 Mar.28
.\pr.29 Apr.28 Apr.23
.May 21 May 14 May 12
.May 9, May 8 May 14

""y 9;....-.....

-Apr. 7 Apr.3o!Apr. 16

May

Apr.

May

Apr.29

Apr.29

Mav 6

Apr.29

Apr. 24

Apr.2r

.May 6

Apr.

Mar.

May
Apr.30

Apr.30
Mar
Apr.
.\pr

Mar. 9 Res.
May 18!

Apr. II
Apr.23
May
Mav

May

Apr.28

May 10

Apr.30 Apr.30 May

.May 7|Apr.30iApr.23

May 61 iMay 4

Apr.30|Apr.30May 1
Apr.28!Apr 3o!Apr.21

Mayl2j [May 5

Apr.27

Apr.30 .\pr.30
Apr.l9|Apr. 9
Feb. 28 Mar. 2
Mar. 6 Mar. 12

Mar.
Res.

Res. Mar.l8 Mar.25

May 6

May 11

Mar.29 Apr 21

May 15

Apr. 29 .May 13

May 3

Mar.27 Mar 18

May 7 May 13 May

(-Apr. 9LMpr. ij-May

Mar. 15 Mar.l6 Mar.29|Mar.27
MayUJMay 3 May l]May
Mar.ll.Feb. 10 Aar.UiMar.

Apr.21

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Mav 3
Mar.27

Mar. 2
Apr.20
May 4
Apr.21

May 10
May 5
Apr. 8

Apr.23i.Apr.21
May 6'Mayl2
May 6iMay 5
.May 2'.May 4
Mar.23|Mar.28

May 10 May
May 11, Res.
Apr.lO'Mar.lO
MaylljMay 3
Mar. 10, Mar. 8

Mar.26!Mar.3I .Apr. 5!.Mar. 5JApr. IJApr. 9
May 2 Apr. 11 [Apr 23lApr.22lApr.21iApr.23

.Mar.26

.May
Apr 20
May 7
Mav
May 7
Mar.22

May 14
May 2
May 14
Apr.23
May 19
May 1

May

Apr.25

May

May

Ap'r.20

Mav

Ma> 8

Mar. 9
Feb. 25

.May 5
May 12
Apr. 16
Apr. 18
May
Apr. 2
May 12
Apr.29
Apr. 24
May 4
May 1

May 13|May
May 15'May

-ipr.lSlApr.l5 i

May 1 .

Apr.

May lo'.
May llApr.26|Apr.30lMay

Apr.:iO

May 13

Apr 29
Mar. 1 2
Apr. 3
Apr 23
May 13

Mar.28

Mar. 31
May 1 4
May 27
Apr. 30

May 12
May 13

Apr 13

Apr. 13

May 7

May 14:Apr30

May

Mar.l8>Iar.28

May 20
Mar. 18;Mav 11
Feb. 14 Mar.
May 7 May
Mar, 16 Mar.20
Apr. 2JApr 19
Apr. 9jMay

May

May 14!Apr.22l | |Moy 7;MBy 4

May 15jApr 30
Apr 29 -Apr 28'-Apr.30
Apr. 11 .Apr.l9!Apr,22lApr.2I

Apr. 24

May

Apr.30

Res

Res,

May 2jMay

May 8 Apr.lSMay 5

Apr.SO'Mar.lslApr. 8

Mar 12'Mar.lojMar. lelMar. 5

Feb. UIMar.lO Feb. 19|Mar. 2

Apr 22
May 4
May 2
May 4
May 4
May 20
May 4
Apr.30[May 7JMay 4!May

May 7 [May

May 7 May 7

May s'May 7

Apr.30iMay '

Mayl2'May 7 May

Apr.17lApr.23 Apr 22
Apr.30 Apr.23 May

Apr.27

Apr.23
Apr 20
Mar. 9
Mar. 7

May 2
Apr. 9
Mar 12
Res,

.Mar 29

May 3

.May 8
May 16
May 4

Mar.26
May 1 1
May 16
Mar. 17

Mar.26
Apr 10
Apr 27
May 14
May 5

Apr.24
Apr.28
May 14
May 4
May 4
May 9

May 8
Apr.29
May 3[Apr.28
May 4:Mav 3
Apr.26 Apr. 12
Mar. 10 Mar 17
Mar.lO Mar. 12

.May 5jMay 14
Apr. 16

May 3

' Midway between Trenton and Bordentown.

TABLE II.

SPRING MIGRATIOiN. 1905.

EaKLIKST DATK8 OP ARRIVAL OF THIBTT-TWO SPEriBS AT TWBNTV-
THBRK «TAT10N8 OUTHIDE THB PHILADELPHIA OIRCLB.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 59

lAst of Other Species Reported by Observers during 1905 and Addi-
tional Notes. Winter Notes relate to Winter of 1904-5. Lo-
calities are in Pennsylvania Unless Othenvise Indicated.

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps. Two at Beverly, N.
J., April 6-16 (Street), Bridesburg, March 1 (Miller), Wayne,
April 24 (Rogers).

Horned Grebe, Colymhus aaritus. Bridesburg, March 13 (2),
April 12 (Miller).

Dovekie, Alle alle. One shot in Grassy Sound, Cape May, N.
J., November, 1904 (Hand).

Herring Gull, Larus argentatus. A flock of 50 to 200 birds
fed daily through winter 1904-5 on the fill at Cape May, N. J.,
where the dredge is at work. Last seen. May 16 (Hand).
Last seen on Delaware at Bridesburg, April 27 (Miller).

Black-headed Gull, Larus alricilla. Cape May, N. J., April
30 (Hand).

Cormorant, Phalacrocorax dilophus. Cape May, N. J. , March
23 (Hand).

American Merganser, Merganser americanus. Fairmount
Park, December 29, 1904, and Darby Creek, Radnor township,
April 1 (Rogers), Cape May, N. J., March 23 (Hand), Brides-
burg, January 5, March 10 (Miller).

Red-breasted Merganser, Merganser serrator. Numbers killed
on the Delaware in March and April near Richmond (Miller).

Blue-winged Teal, Querquedula discors. Two shot on Cedar
Grove Dam, Phila., April 18 (Morris).

BufHehead, Charitonetta albeola. Richmond, March 18 (5),
(Miller).

Goldeneye, Clangula clangula americana. Bridesburg, January
5 (Miller).

Whistling Swan, Olor columhiaaus. Three at Williamsport,
March 20 (Koch). Four large birds apparently swans iiying
over Germantown, May 22 (Brown).

Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus. Yardville, N. J., May 7 (Alli-
son), Cape May, N. J., April 17 (Hand). Crum Creek near
Swarthmore, April 15 (Carta-), Moorestown, N. J., April 22
(Mickle).

60 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Least Bittern, Ardetta exilis. Arrived at Richmond, April 27
(Miller).

Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias. George School, April 15,
Bristol, April 9 {Keim), Concordville, April 15 {Styer), St.
Davids, April 25 (Rogers) Haverford, June 11 (Rogers).

White Egret, Herodias egretta. Cape May, N. J., August 2 and
5 (Hand).

Night Heron, Nydicorax n. naeinus. An occupied colony in
Upper Merion township, Montgomery county (Rogers).

King Rail, Rallus elegans. Richmond, May 31, nest with 12
eggs (Millei-), Bristol, May 14 (Keim).

Woodcock, Philohela minor. Cape May, N. J., March 12
(Hand), Haverford, a pair, March 11 (Serrill), George School,
June 4, Torresdale, March 17 (Miller).

Wilson's Snipe, GaUinago delicata. Woodbourne, April 12
(Pickering), Crosswicks, N. J., ^lay 9 (Abbott and Foider),
Bristol, April 16 (Keim), West Chester, May 11 (Roberts), Con-
cordville, March 18 (Willits), Kennett Square, IMarch 25 (Pen-
noch). Cape May, N. J., March 10 (Hand), Medford, N. J.,
April 16 (Morris), Richmond, March 30 (Miller).

Knot, Tringa canidiis. Cape May, N. J., May 1 (Hand).

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Ereunetes 2>usilbis. Cape May, N.
J., April 9 (Hand).

Yellow-legs, Totanus melanoleucits. Cape May, N. J.. March
19, large flocks, April 4 (Hand), Bridesburg, two. May 19
(Miller).

Solitary Sandpiper, Helodromas solitarius. Radnor, last seen
IMay 14 (Rogers).

Upland Plover, Barlramia longicauda. Woodbourne, April
10 (Pickering), Cupola, Chester county. Pa., May 15 (Hunt),
Frankford, April 18 (Miller).

Spotted Sandpiper, Aclitis macularia. Two in the Paoli Bar-
rens, April 30 (Rogers).

Hudsonian Curlew, Numenius hudsoniciis. Cape May, N. J.,
April 25 (Hand).

Black-bellied Plover, Squatarola squatarola. Cape May, N. J.,
May 1 (Hand).

Semipalmated Plover, Aegialitis semipalmata. Cape May, N.
J., May 4 (Hand).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 61

Turnstone, Arenaria morinella. Cape May, N. J., May 1
(Hand).

Bobwhite, Coliims virc/iniauus. A flock was fed in our meadow,
Yardville, N. J., all winter {AUinmn).

Dove, Zenaidura maci-oura. Three about Downstown, N. J. ,
all winter (Fair).

Turkey Vulture, Calhartcs aura. Three at one time at Con-
cordville, first week in February during deep snow — unusual in
midwinter (Styer), until November 12 at Radnor {Rogers),
wintered as usual near Lenape (Carta-).

Red-tailed Hawk, Bateo borealis. Last seen at Radnor, March
26 (Rogers).

Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo Uneatus. Perkasie, April 21
(Ratter), last seen at Radnor, April 1 (Rogers).

Broad-winged Hawk, Buteo platypterus. Uncommon but
breeds at Radnor, (Rogers).

Bald Eagle, Haliseetus leucocephalus. Summit, N. J., May 8
(Holmes).

Sparrow Hawk, Falco sparverius. Perkasie, April 21 (Rutter).

Osprey, Fandion haliaetxis carolinensis. A pair seen on the
Brandy wine near Embreeville, April 30 (Jackson).

Long-eared Owl, Asio wilsonianus. Two wintered in the j'ard
and saw one May 29, Yardville, N. J. (Allinson), three wintered
at Oak Lane (Harlow).

Short-eared Owl, Asio accipitrinus. Arrived on meadows at
Bridesburg, November 12, 1904, a colony of 16 to 18 remained
till March 1 (Miller).

Saw-whet Owl, Cryptoglaux acadica. Oak Lane, January 2,
1905 (Harlow), Dec. 1, Cape May, N. J. (Hand).

Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon. Just starting nest near Chester,
April 15 (Carter), Crum Creek near Swarthmore, middle of
February (Moore), Lansdowne, Jan. 11 (J. H. Austin).

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius. Summit, N. J.,
February 7 and 14 (Holmes), last seen April 14, Radnor (Rogers).

Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Nested
near Hunting Park (Miller).

Red-bellied ^^'oodpecker, Centurus carolimis. Haverford, May
9, I am sure there was no mistake as the excellent view I had

62 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

of it in several positions left no room for doubt (Linton), Colum-
bia, April 9 ( Wisler).

Flicker, Colnptes auratus luteus. One seen at Yard ville, N. J.,
December 31, 1904 (Allinson), several wintered at Oak Lane
{Harlow).

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Empidonaxflaviventris. Lansdowne,
May 10 (A. J. Pennock), St. Davids, May 23 (Rogers).

Olive-sided Flycatcher, Nuttallomis borealis. Lopez, May 28
(Behr).

Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe. One seen Oak Lane, January 20
(Harlow), nest with eggs West Chester, April 9 (Jackson), nest
nearly finished Haverford, April 1 (Rogers).

Horned Lark, Otocoris alpestris. Perkasie, January 26 (Rut-
ter), Knowlton, February 11, 12, 16, IMarch 12 to 26 (Tyler),
Swarthniore, 15 on February 7 (Palmer), very large flock at Oak
Lane all through February (Harlow).

Prairie Horned Lark, Otocoris alpestris praticola. Summit,
N. J., February 12 (Holmes).

Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos. Birds sitting on two nests April
2, Ardmore (Bally).

Bobolink, Dolkhonyx oryzivorus. Ardmore, May 14 seen in
three localities (Baily).

Meadow Lark, Slurnella magna. No noticeable migratorial in-
crease in spring at Crosswicks, N. J. (Abbott).

Cowbird, Molothrus ater. Wintered at Cape May, N. J.,
(Hand).

Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoenicem. Wintered in
flocks at Cape May, N. J. (Hand).

Rusty Blackbird, Euphagus carolinus. Six at Lenape, March
19 (Carter).

Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureas. Perkasie, April 9 (i2u<-
ter), Haverford, April 25 and 30 (Linton).

Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra minor. Media, April 15 (Moore).

Goldfinch, Astragalinus tristis. Perkasie, April 30 (Rutter).

Snowflake, Passerina nivalis. Summit, N. J., February 10
to 17 from 200 to 300 (Holmes), Swarthmore, 35 on February 17
(Palmer), St. Davids, 5 on February 13 (Rogers), Germantown,
February 15 (F. M. Day), Oak Lane, February 26, flock of
twenty (Harlow).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 63

Mr. Day submits the following notes on the flock of 25 to 35
observed by him. The}^ were running rapidh' about on the
snow-crust feeding from the surface and flying uj) a foot or two
to pick at a dead reed. Their tracks were long in the lightly
drifted snow on the crust. On the ground they were perfectly
silent but as they rose on the wing all together they uttered a
musical vibrating peent, and circled about a moment, quickly
alighting again. At last they took a final flight, disappearing
through the trees, not settling on them, into the Wissahickon
valley. Their chief characteristic of movement seemed to be
agility. They ran about in the liveliest way and half jumped,
half flew up at dried seeds a foot or so above the snow.

Vesper Sparrow, Pooecetes gramlnem. All winter at Crosswicks,
N. J., (Abbott).

Savanna Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis savanna. Last
seen Radnor, April 2<S (Rogers).

Henslow's Bunting, Ammodramus hcnslovm. Saw and heard
it singing near Cape May Court House, July, and at Bear Swamp
east of Medford, July 3 (Stone).

White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys. Lopez, May
8 (Behr), Williamsport, IMay 7 (Koch), Summit, N. J., May
14, (Holmes), Columbia, April 30 (Wisler), Rancocas, N. J.,
May 8 (Haines), Westtown, May 6 (Smedley), Media, April 30
(Allen), Lansdowne, May 14 ( ir. R. White), Frankford, May 1
{Miller).

White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis. Last seen Col-
umbia, April 23 (Wisler), all winter at Yardville, N. J. (AUiii-
son), Bristol, April 9 (Keim), Burlington, N. J., April 28
(Carter), Beverly, N. J., May 21 (Street), Kennett Square, May
10 (Pennock), Haverford, May 21 (Linton), Ardmore, May 21
(Baily), Overbrook, May 12 (Hunt), Media, May 8, arrived
September 22, 1904 (Allen), May 21, Lower Merion (Rogers),
Oak Lane, May 21 (Harlmo), Frankford, May 27 (Miller).

Tree Sparrow, Spizella monticola. Last seen Columbia, March
26 (Wisler), Perkasie, March 3 (Rutter), Bristol, INIarch 19
(Keim), Burlington, N. J., March 14 (Carter), Downstown,
N. J., April 2, scarce (Fair), Radnor, March 16 (Rogers), Oak
Lane, April 25 (Harlow), Frankford, April 21 (Miller).

64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla. Seen several times during
winter, Lansdowne (A. J. I'ennoclc), and near St. Davids
(Rogers), one at Haverford, January 14 (Rogers).

Junco, Junco hyevialis. General winter resident, last seen at
Summit, N. J., April 30 (Holmes), Columbia, April 9 (Wisler),
Perkasie, April 21 (Ratter), Downstown, N. J., Apiil 23 (Fair),
Media, April 24 (Moore), Radnor, April 26 (Rogers), Oak Lane,
May 2 (Harhio), arrived at Media, October 10, 1904 (Allen).

Song Sparrow, Melospiza cinerea melodia. Reached ^\'illiam8-
port, March 9 (Koch), Perkasie, February 23 (Rutter).

Swamp Sparrow, Melostpiza georgiana. All winter at Crosswicks,
N. J., (Abbott), Bristol, (Keim).

Fox Sparrow, Passerella iliaca. Wintered in West Fairmount
Park, Phila. (Hunt), last seen Radnor, April 1 (Rogers).

Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis. Two nests on Pensauken
Creek, N. J., each with three eggs, April 15 (Hunt), Columbia,
April 2 (Wisler), at least three pairs fed all winter in the yard
(Allinson), all winter at Westtown.

Rough-winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis. At Valley
Falls, April 22 (Brown), nesting at Mendenhall, Chester county,
April 22 (/. D. Carter).

Cedarbird, Ampelis cedrorum. Flock of seven wintered at
Cape May, N. J. (Hand).

Northern Shrike, Lanius borealis. Oak Lane, February 22
(Harlow).

Migrant Shrike, Lanius ludovidanus migrans. One, Haver-
ford, March 28 (Rogers).

White-eyed Vireo, Vireo noveboracensis. Nest with young just
hatched at Torresdale, May 29 (Miller).

Blue-winged Warbler, Helminthophila pinus. Brood of two
with young Cowbird left nest June 11, West Chester (Jackson).

Golden-winged Warbler, Helminthophila chrysoptcra. Burling-
ton, N. J., May 14 (Carter), Oak Lane, May 6 (Harlow), Frank-
ford, May 18 (Miller), Haverford, May 13 (LhUon).

Nashville Warbler, Helminthophila ruhricapilla. Beverly, N.
J., May 27 (Street), Oak Lane, September 28, 1904 (Harlow),
Frankford, May 10 (Miller).

Cape May Warbler, Dendroica tigrina. Williamsport, May 7

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 65

(Koch), Kennett Square, May 11 (Pennock), Haverford, May
12 (Linton).

Yellow Warbler, Dendroica aestiva. Eggs by May 11 at Frank-
ford (Miller).

Myrtle Warbler, Dendroica coronata. Single birds all winter
at intervals at Crosswicks, N. J. (Abbott).

Bay-breasted Warbler, Dendroica castanea. Haverford, May
14 (Serrill), Ardmore, May 14 and 21 (Baily), IMedia, May 16
(E. Fussell), Oak Lane, May 13 (Harlow), Kennett Square,
shot, May 8 (Pennock).

Louisiana Water Thrush, Seiurus motacilla. Beverly, N. J.,
May 21 (Street), Wissahickon Creek, June 14, pair evidently
with young (Rogers).

Hooded Warbler, Wilsonia mitrata. Williamsport, May 4
(Koch), Swarthmore, April 30 (Roberts), Oak Lane, May 6
(Harlow), Media, May 8 (Moore).

Wilson's Warbler, Wilsonia pusilla. Germantown, May 11
(Brewer), Haverford, May 13 (Sen-ill), May 10 (Linton), Ard-
more, May 14 and 21 (Baily), Media, May 12 (E. Fussell),
Lansdowne, May 19 and 22 (White), Oak Lane, May 7 (Har-
low), Westtown, May 13 (Smedley).

Titlark, Anthus pensilvanicus. Woodbourne, May 6 (Picker-
ing), Bristol, April 16 (Keim), Ardmore, flock of 50, March 11
and 100 March 25 (Baily), Frankford, March 7 (Miller).

Carolina Wren, Ihryothorus ludovicianus. Columbia, May 7
( Wisle7-), all winter at Westtown.

Winter Wren, Olhiorchilus hiemalis. Last seen Media, May 7
(Moore), Oak Lane, May 5 (Harlow).

Long-billed INIarsh Wren, Tehnatodytes paluslris. Arrived on
Pensauken Creek, N. J., May 7 (Hunt).

Bewick's Wren, Thryomanes beivickii. Through the kindness
of Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, we have rei^eived the following list
of occurrences of Bewick's Wren in Western Pennsylvania,
based upon his own experience and that of his collectors, or
those of the Carnegie Museum. As the paper on Fulton county
birds (pp. 40-44) was already paged, it was impossible to use
this information in that connection, so it has been inserted here
with a cross reference.

66 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Mr. W. H. Phelps found a pair of Bewick's Wrens, June 25,

1895, on the eastern side of Sideling Hill, about two and a-half
miles from Needmore, Fulton Co., and on June 28-29 five were
seen near Clearville, Bedford Co. All these were found along
the roadside fences.

July 1-2 in the vicinity of Charlesville and Springville, Cole-
rain Twp., Bedford Co., the bird was found in two spots. Two
pairs frequented the fence rows of a lane and a family of seven
were found among burnt and fallen timber on the summit of
Tussey's Mountain.

Mr. Thaddeus Burber, June 2, 1898, found a few on the
summit of the mountain ridge one mile west of Riddlesburg,
Bedford Co., and it was common at the base of Tussey Moun-
tain, near Entriken, Huntingdon Co.

Mr. Todd found a female and four young June 7, 1899, on
the summit of Sideling Hill, Fulton Co. Specimens from all
these localities are in the Carnegie Museum collection.

Further north in the state, S. N. Rhoads saw two May 27,

1896, at Round Island, Clinton Co. (Auk, 1899, p. 313), and
Thaddeus Surber took one at Tamarack Swamp, in the same
county, while August Koch secured one at Williamsport
(Maynard's Birds of Eastern N. A., p. 505). Mr. Rhoads also
shot one at Beaver, Beaver Co., April 27, 1898.

Brown Creeper, Certhia fnmiliaris amerkana. Last seen
Columbia, April 2 (Wisler), Perkasie, April 1 (Rutter), Bristol,
March 12 (Keirn), Radnor, April 7 {Rogers), Oak Lane, April
10 (Harlow), Frankford, March 28 (Miller).

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitla carolinensis. One, December 17,
1904, Wayne (Rogers).

Tufted Titmouse, Ilseolophus bicolor. Williamsport, April 18
(Koch), Columbia, April 2 ( Wisler), Perkasie, March 24 (Rutter),
all winter at Westtown. Several observers in the lower coun-
ties failed to see it through the severe winter, but it reappeared
in April.

Black-capped Chickadee, Pants atricapilbis. Columbia, April
2 (Wisler), Perkasie, December 24, 1904 (Rutter), Concordville,
May 7 ( Willit^).

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa. Last seen Haver-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 67

ford, April 25 {Linton), Oak Lane, April 20 (Harlow), Perkasip,
April 2 (RtUter), Knowlton, March 20 (Tyler).

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptlla caerulea. Media, May 1
(Moore), May 2 (Allen), May 7 (Fassell). The first two records
are of the same hird and probabh' the later record also. In
each instance the identification was made with great care under
favorable conditions.

Gray-cheeked Thrush, Htjlocichla alidm. June 4, singing at
Lansdowne (A. J. Pennock), and at Ardmore, May 12 (Bally).

Hermit Thrush, Hylocichla guttata pallasii. Saw one singing
at Lansdowne, April 17 (A. J. Pennock).

Robin, Merula migratoria. Sandiford, Phila., December 31,
1904; had eggs, April 14 (Miller), nest with one egg, April 9,
Crum Creek (Hunt).

Bluebird, Sialia sialis. Swarthmore all winter (Palmer), set
of four eggs, Overbrook, April 27 (Hunt), no noticeable migra-
torial increase in spring at Crosswicks, N. J., (Abbott), nine or
ten seen early in February at Downstown, N. J. (Fair).

City Ornithology

The following birds have been observed in the Friends' West-
ern Burial Ground, Sixteenth and Race streets, Philadelphia,
from the Friends' Library windows, by Mary S. Allen :

AUTUMN MIGRATION, 1904, '

Towhee, October 13, 1904.

Hermit Thrush, three on October 14, and six on October 15,
1904.

White-throated Sparrow, October 14 and 15, 1904.

Robin, three seen during autumn, last for the year November
10, 1904.

SPRING MIGRATION, 1905.

Bluebird, reported March 7.

Robin, first seen March 1(3, next March 23 and throughout
season.

Song Sparrow, reported March 16, seen March 20 and 23.
Flicker, March 20.

Hermit Thrush, a pair April 26, May 2 and 3.
Towhee, a pair April 26, May 3 and 12.
White-throated Sparrow, April 26 and May 1.
Brown Thrasher, April 29, May 2, 3, 6 to 12.
Wood Thrush, May 5, singing from 4:30 to 6 p. m.
Catbird, May 6 to 12.
Ovenbird, Jlay 6, 11 and l-'!.
Veery, May 11.

Baltimore Oriole, May 12, singing.

Maryland Yellow Throat, a pair May 12 and 13 singing.
Worm-eating Warbler, May 12.

(68)

Abstract of the Proceedings of the Delaware Valley
Ornithological C^lub for 1905'

January 5, 1905. Annual Meeting. Thirty-one members
present. Mr. Frederick W. Stack was elected a Corresponding
member. The old officers were re-elected for the ensuing year, as
follows : President, Dr. Spencer Trotter ; Vice-President, Wil-
liam A. Shryock; Secretary, Wm. B. Evans; Treasurer, Stew-
ardson Brown.

This being the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of the
club, the Chairman Mr. Shryock gave a brief review of its his-
tory and IMessrs. Serrill, Pennock and Stone spoke of different
phases of the club's work and of early reminiscences. The
meeting then adjourned to the annual collation.

A committee was appointed to consider the collecting of data
on the distribution, habits, etc., of the birds of Pennsylvania
and New Jersey with a view to future publication.

January 19, 1905. Twenty-four members present. Mr.
Chreswell J. Hunt was elected an Active member.

Mr. Stone made a communication on "Immature Plumages,
what they are, and what they mean."

In the discussion which followed Mr. Pennock stated that in
two instances of the breeding of the Marsh Hawk that had come
under his notice, the male bird was in neither case in the blue-
gray plumage.

Mr. J. Harold Austin reported a Kingfisher near Lansdowne
January 14.

February 2, 1905. Twenty-one members present. " A Trip
to the Florida Keys ' ' was the communication of the evening,
presented by Messrs. Stewardson Brown and Henry W. Fowler.
While birds were only incidental to other observations they

(69)

70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

noted quite a number of species during the two weeks spent in
cruising in a steam launch between the Marquesas on the west
and Vaca Key on the east, the Great White Heron (Ardea oc-
cidentalis) being the most interesting species seen.

February 16, 1905. Twenty-six members present. Clark J.
Peck read a paper on "The Overbrook Grackle Roost." (See
antca, p. 36.)

A Snowy Owl captured recently at West Chester, Pa., was re-
ported by Mr. Stone, and Mr. Hunt stated that he had noticed
fresh Woodpecker holes in an orchard at Overbrook.

March 2, 1905. Thirty-two members present. ^Ir. Bailj'
presented a number of excellent lantern slides illu.'^trating his
communication on " Work with the Camera at Pocono and Else-
where." A series of portraits of young Turkey Vultures, a
sitting Woodcock which permitted herself to be stroked with the
hand and a Chipping Sparrow feeding her young on the photo-
grapher's hand were among the best of the pictures.

An epidemic in a Crow roost at Ogontz, Pa. , was described by
Mr. Harlow, who had counted thirty-five dead crows, while
blindness and irregular flight were noticed in others.

Five Snow Buntings {Passerina nivalis) were reported by Mr.
Baily at St. Davids, and on a recent visit to Mt. Pocono large
numbers of the same species were observed. Dr. Trotter and
Mr. Palmer also reported a flock of about thirty-five at Swarth-
more. Pa., on February 23, and Mr. Harlow saw iifteen or
twenty at Oak Lane, Phila., on February 26.

Mr. Lorrilliere reported Crackles {Quiscahig quiacula) at Coll-
ingdale, Delaware county, Pa., on February 23.

March 16, 1905. Twenty-six members present. Dr. Trotter
read a paper entitled " Type Birds from Eastern Pennsylvania
and New Jersey " in which he spoke of some twenty-nine species
of which the original type specimens had been discovered in the
neighborhood of Philadelphia, and commented on the exact
localities where some of them had been shot, and circumstances
connected with their capture.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 71

Dr. Follows spoke of a small Crow roost about two miles
south of Swarthniore and Mr. Morris who had visited Baltimore
on March 5 remarked on the l.'irge numbers of migrating Robins,
Red-winged Blackbirds, Bluebirds and Flickers in that vicinity.
Mr. DeHaven, who had been gunning at Cape Charles, Va.,
stated that on February 27 and 28 during eight hours no less
than one hundred flocks of Pintail Ducks had passed overhead,
flying northward.

A large section of tree trunk showing elaborate excavations
by the Pileated Woodpecker (^Ceophloeuii pileatus abieiicola} had
been collected by Mr. Otto Behr at Bellasylva, Wyoming
county, Pa., and was on exhibition at the meeting. The work
was done during December last.

April 6, 1905. Twenty-five members present. Mr. Eralen
read a paper entitled " A Ten Days Visit to the Adirondacks,"
describing birds observed about a camp at Raquett Lake during
August, 1904. Two nests of the Osprey (Pandion. haliactus
cawlinensis), were observed, and the Hermit Thrush {Hyhckhla
guttata pallasii), was still in song on August 8. Other interest-
ing species observed were Arctic and American Three-toed
^^'oodpecke^s (Plcoides arcticus and americanus), Canada Jay
(Perisoreus canadensis), Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus),
Spruce Grouse {Canachites canadensis) , and Herring Gull (Lariis
argeiitatus) . Mr. Pennock commented further upon the bird-
life of this region which he had visited in June, 1878, on which
occasion he found Black Duck (Anas obscura), Hooded Mer-
ganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) , and Red- breasted Merganser
(Merganser serrator), on the lake and had seen the Wild Pigeon
(Ectopistes migratorius), nesting. An egg that he had collected
was given to the collection of Princeton University.

Mr. Steele stated that a Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) had
recently struck the City Hall tower.

Mr. Stone read a letter from Mr. J. G. Dillen, describing the
injury done by Woodpeckers (presumably this species) to hickory
trees, which resulted in the wood being stained by moisture
entering at the pits made by the bird and rendered unsalable for
axe-handles for which purpose the timber was largely bought up.

72 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

April 20, 1905. Twenty-five members present. Messrs.
Charles H. Rogers, Wayne B. Morrell and William Johns were
elected Associate members.

William B. Evans made a communication on " Birds of Cape
Ann, Mass.," observed during the latter part of June, 1902.
Fifty-four species were observed.

Mr. Morris reported Wilson's Snipe {Gallinago delicata), as
common on Rancocas creek, near Medford, N. J., April 16, and
Mr. Keim observed them at Tullytown, Pa., on the same day
and also a number of Titlarks (Anthiis pensilvanicus) . Mr.
Fowler stated that several Snow Geese presumably {Chen h.
nivalis), had been taken at Edgewater Park, N. J., during the
winter. Mallard, Black Duck, Widgeon were rather common,
and during the fall Blue and Green- winged Teal and Pintail.
During the present spring Canvas-backs and Red-heads had been
reported taken by gunners and all three species of IMergansers.
Mr. Carter described the singular attitude of a Bittern {Botaurus
lentiginosus} observed perching on a tree.

3{ay Jf, 1905. Twenty-five members present.

Mr. Paul Vossburg and Prof. A. L. AVheeler were elected
Associate members.

Mr. S. N. Rhoads addressed the meeting on the "Birds of
the Colorado Delta in Midwinter," describing a trip taken in
February last in an open boat from Yuma, Arizona, to the
mouth of the Hardy river and up that stream for about sixty
miles and thence overland to Calexico on the California-Mexican
boundary. Owing to the unprecedented floods, the trip was
one of considerable hardship, and was less successful than was
expected. The habits of the White Pelican (Pelecanus erythro-
rhynchos), Gambel's Quail (Cnllipepla gambeli) , Abert's Towhee
{Pipilo aherti), Rock Wren {Salpinctes ohsoletus), and other
species were described. (See Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1905, ])p.
676-690.)

Mr. Carter read a letter from Syracuse, N. Y., describing the
habits of a Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus migrans), which had a
nest with eggs on April 30. It was" observed to carry a small
bird-victim in its claws.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 73

Mr. Morris reported a Blue-winged Teal at Olnc}', Phila-
delphia, April 22.

May 18, 1905. Thirty-two members present.

The resignations of Messrs. J. Harris Reed and James L.
Stanton, Jr., were accepted with regret, and Mr. Wm. E.
Hannum was transferred to the corresponding list.

Mr. Samuel C. Palmer reviewed at length the distribution of
the American Robin and its several races, tracing the winter
and breeding ranges from data compiled from the published
records.

Mr. Morris presented a list of eighty-seven species of birds
observed at Eagle's Mere, Sullivan Co., Pa., May 12-14. He
was impressed with the fact that while the progress of vegeta-
tion was much behind Philadelphia, perhaps two or three
■weeks, the difference in the migration was but a few days, re-
sulting in the presence of many birds in leafless tress which do
not occur with us until the foliage is well expanded.

Two pair of White Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
were observed, and Black Duck and Bufflehead Ducks were seen
on the streams.

Mr. Stone reported a Veery singing in the swampy woods at
Medford, N. J., early on the morning of May 14.

Messrs. Baily and Rogers had identified seventj--one species
of birds on the 14th, along Darby Creek, Delaware Co., Pa.

October 5, 1905. Nineteen members present.

Mr. John D. Carter was elected an Active member.

Mr. Stone described a trij) to Fulton county. Pa., undertaken
in June last, in company with Dr. W. E. Hughes and Mr. Wm.
L. Baily (see antea, pp. 40-44).

Mr. Harlow stated that the birds seen by him in Franklin
county during 1903 and 1904 corresponded closely to those seen
by Mr. Stone. He added that he had in addition noted the
Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) August 12, 1903, near
Monterey, Franklin county, within half a mile of the Maryland
boundary. He said :

74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

' ' The fauna here was caroHnian, being marked by an abun-
dance of such birds as the Cardinal, {Cardinal^ cardlnaUs,)
Tutted Titmouse, (Baeolophus bicolor,) etc. I was attracted to
the Nuthatch by hearing a note which was entirely new to me.
Following the sound I found the bird on the dead limb of a
chestnut tree, not twenty feet above me, and was able to
identify it in a moment. I spent half an hour watching it, and
during this time heard the note frequently. It seemed to me
to be best described as a shrill chirp, but possessed some of the
Nuthatch characteristics. Twice the bird left the tree in pur-
suit of passing insects, each time it was head down and
swooped ofi, describing an arc and returning to a nearby tree.
It did not appear at all shy, but its movements were quick and
nervous, and quite different from the deliberate action of the
White-breasted Nuthatch. On a second trip to the vicinity,
August 8-14, 1904, I saw none of this species, and I should
regard it as a straggler. ' '

Mr. Rehn reported Wild Turkeys as rather common in
Diamond Valley, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania.

October 19, 1905. Seventeen members present.

Mr. Albert Linton was elected an Associate member.

Mr. Harlow read a paper on the birds of southern Pike
county, Pennsylvania, observed August 15 and October 2. His
observations covered the valley of the Wallenpaupack Creek.
One of the most interesting records was that of a Solitary Sand-
piper with young barely able to fly, indicating the breeding of
the species in the vicinity.

Mr. Stone referred to differences in the names occurring on
some of the first ten plates of Audubon's Elephant Folio, show-
ing that there were two editions of the first two parts of the work.

Mr. Hunt reported a Coot (Fidica americana) on Pensauken
Creek, N. J., on October 14.

November 2, 1906. Twenty members present.
Mr. Thomas C. Desmond was elected an Associate member.
Mr. Pennock described the bird-life of the Indian river dis-
trict of Delaware.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 75

November 16, 1905. Twenty members present.

Mr. David E. Harrower was elected an Associate member.

Mr. Hunt read a paper entitled "Gleanings from a Bird
Lover's Note Book." A Barn Swallow had been seen to snatch
tlies from a cow's back, and a Spotted Sandpiper had been
noted walking upon a railroad track engaged in catching
spiders. The song of a Field Sparrow was described which
varied so much from the usual strain that it was quite unrecog-
nizable. A caged Red-winged Blackbird had been seen to rob
a Cardinal, which was his fellow prisoner, of seeds crushed by
the latter. It had been noticed that Tree Sparrows instead of
feeding directly from the weeds as did the Goldfinches, dislodged
the seeds by their shaking and then gleaned them from the
snow.

Messrs. Stone and Wright reviewed the recent A. 0. U. Con-
gress in New York.

Mr. Rehn exhibited a Com Crake {Crex crex) shot on Novem-
ber 11, at Dennisville, Cape May Co., N. J., by H. Walker
Hand.

Mr. Harlow reported a Saw Whet Owl (Cryptoglaux acadica}
captured at Oak Lane, Philadelphia.

December 7, 1905. Nineteen members present.

The resignations of Messrs. William D. Carpenter and Samuel
M. Freeman were accepted with regret.

Messrs. Baily and Carter spoke of ' ' Characteristic Rarities of
Pocono Lake," supplementing the contribution from Mr. Carter
in the last Cassinia. The Alder Flycatcher (^Empidonax trailli
alnorum), and Prairie Horned Lark (Otocoris alpestris praticola),
were observed, and also the Thrush previously reported, and
which Mr. Baily felt convinced was Bicknell's. As, however,
the bird had not been satisfactorily seen, and opinions differed
as to the resemblance of its song to the published description of
that of Hylocichla alicias bicknelli, the status of this species as a
breeder in Pennsylvania is still in doubt. Mr. Baily had also
heard what he took to be the song of the Carolina Wren
(Thryothorm ludovicianus) , but its occurrence in the Pocono
Mountains was so unlocked for that it was considered to require
further verification.

76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

December 21, 1905. Twenty-two members present. Mr.
Charles H. Rogers was transferred from Associate to Correspond-
ing membership owing to his removal from the vicinity of
the city.

A paper prepared by Mr. Richard L. Miller entitled : " Breed-
ing of the Florida Gallinule {GalUnula galeata) in Philadelphia
County," was read by Mr. Rehn, (see antea pp. 24-32).

Mr. Harlow reported quite a number of birds at Tinicum,
Delaware county, Pa., on December 18, including several Swamp
Sparrows, Fox Sparrow, a Chewink, a few Robins, and a flock
of fifteen Horned Larks.

Mr. DeHaven who had just returned from Cape Charles, Va.,
had noticed Black-bellied Plover {Squatarola squatarola) , Semi-
palmated Sandpipers (Ereunetes piisillus), and seven or eight
Ipswich Sparrows (Passercidm princeps). A large flock of birds
possibly Red Phalaropes were wheeling over the bay.

Mr. Stone reported a young Bald Eagle {HaUaeetus leuco-
cephalus), shot December 18, on the Perkiomen creek, near Nor-
ristown, and a Snow Owl shot November 20, in Richmond,
Phila., was exhibited. Several others of the latter species had
been shot near Philadelphia during the present month.

Bibliography for 1901J*

I. Ornithological Papers by Members of the Delaumre Valley
Ornithologiml Club

DeH{aven'\, I. N. Tamed Wild Turkeys [in Florida].
Forest and Stream. May 6, p. 354.

Evans, Wm. B. Christmas Bird Census. Bird-Lore, vii,
p. 28.

Harrower, David E. Robin Laying in Wood Thrush's Nest.
Oologist, xxii, No. 4, p. 58.

Holmes, LaRueK. Summer Birds of Summit, Union County,
N. J. Wilson Bull., xvii, pp. 8-12.

Hunt, C. J. The Bird to the Bird Lover. Bird-Lore, vii,
pp. 207-208.

Hunt, C. J. Young Birds Killed by Trains. Auk, xxii, pp.
419-420.

Hunt, C. J. A-Birding in the New Jersey Pines. Wilson
Bull., xvii, pp. 105-107.

Hunt, C. J. The Apparent Power of Reasoning in Birds.
Auk, xxii, pp. 89-90.

Hunt, C. J. The Spotted Sandpiper. Wilson Bull., xvii,
pp. 51-52.

Hunt, C. J. Christmas Bird Census. Bird Lore, vii, p. 28.

Jacobs, J. Warren. On the Construction of Houses for the
Purple Martin. Bird-Lore, vii, pp. 11-16 and p. 20.

Jacobs, J. Warren. Nesting Habits of the Grasshopper Spar-
row in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Wilson Bull., xvii, pp.
18-20.

Jacobs, J. Warren. Some Notes on the Summer Birds of
Monongalia County, W. Va. Published by the author.

*The Editor will be glad to know of omissions in order that the titles may
be included next year. It is our desire to make the bibliography as complete
as possible, which can only be done through the cooperation of our readers.

(77)

78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Keim, T. D. Christmas Bird Census. Bird-Lore, vii, p. 28.

Miller, W. D. W. A Note on the Food of the Bronzed Grackle.
Bird Lore, vii, p. 144.

Miller, W. D. W. List of Birds Collected in Southern Sinaloa,
Mexico, by J. H. Batty During 1903-1904. Bull. Am. Mu.
Nat. Hist., xxi, pp. 339-369.

Pennock, C. J. Guthrie's Geography, 1815 Edition. Auk,
xxii, p. 90.

Rehn, J. A. 0. Bachman's Warbler in Leon County, Florida.
Auk, xxii, p. 85.

Rhoads, S. N. , and Pennock, C. J. Birds of Delaware, A Pre-
liminary List. Auk, xxii, pp. 194-205.

Rogers, C. H. The Louisiana Water Thrush in Philadelphia
in Summer. Auk, xxii, p. 419, also Wilson Bull., xvii, p. 102.

Rogers, C. H. July Horizon in Mercer County, N. J. Wil-
son Bull., xvii, p. 106.

Rogers, C. H. Christmas Bird Census. Bird-Lore, vii, p. 28.

Stone, Wilmer. On a Collection of Birds and Mammals from
the Colorado Delta, Lower California, with Field Notes by
Samuel N. Rhoads. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1905, pp. 676-690.

Stone, Witmer. Reviews of Ornithological Journals. Bird
Lore, vii, pp. 37, 247.

Stone, Witmer. Some Early American Ornithologists. Bird
Lore, vii ; Mark Catesby, pp. 126-129; WiUiam Bartram, pp.
162-164 ; B. S. Barton, pp. 193-194; Alexander Wilson, pp.
265-268.

Stone, Witmer. Sketch of Dr. S. W. Woodhouse. Auk, xxii,
pp. 104-106.

Street, J. Fletcher. A Wren House. Bird-Lore, vii, p. 19.

Street, J. Fletcher. Christmas Bird Census. Bird-Lore, vii,
p. 27.

Todd, W. E. C. The Birds of Erie and Presque Isle, Erie
Co., Pa. Ann. Carnegie Mus., ii, pp. 481-596 (1904).

Todd, W. E. C. The Mammal and Bird Fauna of Beaver
Co., Penna. Bausman's History of Beaver Co., Pa., vol. ii,
pp. 1195-1202,

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 79

II. Additional Papers Relating to the Birds of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and Delaware.

Barker, S. H. Starving Crows (at Glenside, Pa.). Bird
Lore, vii, p. 174.

Bowdish, B. S. A Chapter from the Life History of the
Green Heron. Oologist, xxii, p. 2L

Braislin, Win. 0. Avocet in New Jersey. Auk, xxii, p. 78.

Burns, F. L. The Worm Eating Warbler (in Chester Co.,
Pa.). Bird Lore, vii, pp. 137-139.

Bums, F. L. Some New Jersey Records. Wilson Bull.,
xvii, p. 27.

" Cabia Blanco." The Wild Ducks of Erie Harbor. Forest
and Stream, July 29, p. 88.

Crispin, W. B. Some Rare Finds this Season [at Salem,
N. J.] Oologist, xxii, No. 4, p. 90.

Crispin, W. B. Great Blue Heron Collecting in Salem Co.,
N. J. Oologist, xxii, No. 7, p. 101.

Hann, H. H. A Preliminary List of the Birds of Summit,
Union County, N. J. Wilson Bull., xvii, pp. 117-122.

Hix, Geo. E. Holboell's Grebe at Englewood, N. J. Auk,
xxii, p. 407.

Hix, Geo. E. Brewster's Warbler at Englewood, N. J. Auk,
xxii, p. 417.

McDavitt, I. N. Feeding a Baby Hummingbird. The Warbler.
I (second series). No. 1, p. 16.

McLemmon, Isabel. Winter Feeding at Englewood, N. J.
Bird Lore, vii, p. 242.

Mercer, Berlon. Our Pioneer Tenants (Lansdowne, Pa.).
Bird Lore, vii, pp. 174-176.

MiUer, R. F. Sparrow Hawk Feeding on Cocoons. Oologist,
xxii, No. 4, p. 60.

Stackpole, R. and Wiegrnann, W. H. Christmas Bird Census,
on Atlantic Ocean, Twenty-five Miles oS Long Branch, N. J.
Bird-Lore, vii, p. 27.

Warren, B. H. A Ruffed Grouse Eats a Snake. Forest and
Stream, July 8, p. 27.

Wilde, M. L. G. Breeding Habits of Parula Warbler in New
Jersey. Wilson Bull., xvii, pp. 4-8.

Numerous Christmas Bird Censuses at Various Points in Penn-
sylvania and New Jersey. Bird Lore, vii, pp. 27-28.

Bird Cluh Notes

The Publication Committee of the Club will welcome papers
or notes relating to the birds of Pennsylvania, New Jersey or
Delaware, from any one, whether a member of the Delaware
Valley Club or not. Such communications will be read at the
next meeting, and if passed upon favorably by the Com-
mittee will be published in Cassinia. While primarily the
proceedings of the Club, all articles submitted to Cassinia are
given equal consideration, and choice is based entirely upon the
value of the matter contained and the literary merit of the
paper.

* * *

For the portrait of Bonaparte, published in this number, we
are indebted to Mr. Ruthven Doane, who kindly furnished us
a photograph taken from a lithograph in his possession.

* * *

The Club held sixteen meetings during the year, with an
average attendance of twenty-four; fifty-seven members being
present at one or more meetings.

* * *

A well attended field meeting was held on May 30, at
" Catoxen Cabin," a shack in the pines near Medford, New
Jersey, owned by several members of the Club. The neighbor-
ing woods were thoroughly explored, and a visit paid to Bear
Swamp in the pine barrens to the eastward.

The Club was represented at the twenty-third congress of the
A. 0. U. in New York City, by jMessrs. Baily, Pennock, Rhoads,
Rogers, Stone and Wright, as well as Messrs. Holmes, Miller,
Todd and Wisler of the corresponding members. The follow-
ing papers were presented: "Similarity of the Birds of the

(80)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 81

Maine Woods and the Pocono Jlountains, Pa.," and " Exhibi-
tion of Lantern SHdes," Wm. L. Baily; " Andreje Hessalius,
Pioneer Delaware Ornithologist," C. J. Pennock; "Some Un-
published Letters of Wilson and Some Unstudied Works of
Audubon," "The Probability of Error in Bird Migration
Records," and "Applicability of the JIutation Theory to
Birds," Witraer Stone. ]Mr. Stone was appointed a member of
the committee to consider revision of the A. 0. U. Code of

Nomenclature.

* * *

Thirty members and fourteen Corresponding members of the
D. V. 0. C. are members of the A. O. U. The total member-
.ship of the latter in Pennsylvania is 71 and in New Jersey 38,
of these 56 are resident, within twenty-five miles of Philadel-
phia. For the sake of comparison it may be added that the A.
0. \J. has 136 members in Massachusetts, 125 in New York —
70 in New York Citj^ ; and 53 in the District of Columbia.

Members of the club made a number of trips during the year
especially during the summer holidays. Dr. Hughes has been
moose hunting in Nova Scotia, and Dr. Trotter spent the sum-
mer there ; Samuel N. Rhoads spent the early part of 1905 in
Southern California and Lower California, Stewardson Brown
was botanizing through August in the Bermudas and J. A. G.
Rehn was catching grasshoppers in Florida. G. S. Morris, I.
N. DeHaven and Guy Meyers have been shooting on the Vir-
ginia coast, and Stone and Coggins have been to Nantucket and
Martha's Vinyard, respectively, while Fowler and Keim have
been pursuing minnows through most of the streams of Maryland
and Southeastern Pennsylvania. The birds of the various coun-
ties of Pennsylvania have been studied diligently, Stone, Hughes
and Baily having been in Fulton, Morris in Sullivan, Harlow in
Pike, Fowler in Cameron, Carter, Baily, Weygandt and Stone
in Monroe, Rehn in Huntingdon and Brown in Fayette.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS

Delaware Valley Ornithological Club.

1906.

SPENCER TROTTER, M. D., Presiihut.

WILLIAM A. SHRYOCK, Vice-Fresident.

HERBERT L. COGGINS, Secretary, 923 Arch St., Phila.

STEWARDSON BROWN, Treasurer, 20 E. Penn St., Germantown.

ACTIVE MEMBERS.

William L. Bailt, Ardmore, Pa Founder.

Stewardson Brown, 20 E. Penn St., Germantown, Phila *1891

John D. Carter, Lansdowne, Delaware Co., Pa 1900

Herbert L. Coggins, 5025 McKean Ave., Germantown, Phila ^B91

I. NoRRis De Haven, Ardmore, Pa 1891

Arthur 0. Emlen, Awbury, Germantown, Pa 1897

William B. Evans, Moorestown, N. J 1898

Henry W. Fowler, Holmesburg, Phila 1894

William E. Hughes, M. D., 3945 Chestnut St., W. Phila 1891

Chreswell J. Hunt, 130G N. Fifty-third St., W. Phila 1902

George Spencer Morris, Olney, Phila Founder.

Samuel C. Palmer, Swarthmore, Pa 1899

Charles J. Pennock, Kennett Square, Pa 1895

James A. G. Rehn, 1918 N. Twenty-first St., Phila 1899

Samuel N. Rhoads, Haddonfield, N. J Founder.

* Date indicates year of election to Club.

(82)

DELAWAEE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 83

William A. Shryock, 209 S. Sixth St., Phila 1891

WiTMER Stone, Academy Nat. Sciences, Phila Founder.

Spencer Trotter, M. D., Swarthmore College, Delaware Co., Pa. . Founder.
Samuel Wright, Conshohocken, Pa 1892

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS.

J. Harold Austin, Lansdowue, Delaware Co., Pa 1903

Charles W. BnviNGER, 911 N. Sixteenth St., Phila 1900

John E. Chamberlin, 201 West End Trust Building, Phila 1904

Stirling W. Cole, 116 N. Sixth St., Camden, N. J 1904

Francis R. Cope, Jr., Awbury, Germantown, Phila 1895

William J. Cresson, Swarthmore, Delaware Co., Pa 1899

Thomas C. Desmond, 47 Barclay Hall, Haverford College, Pa 1905

Frank A. Eaton, Lansdowne, Pa 1904

Ernest M. Evans, Awbury, Germantown, Phila 1899

A. P. Fellows, 4006 Chestnut St., W. Phila 1894

George Forsythe, West Chester (Route 4), Chester Co., Pa 1891

Alfred Morton Githens, 1337 Pine St., Phila 1895

Bartram W. Griffiths, 4024 Green St., W. Phila 1902

Rev. John H. Haokenberg, 3211 Columbia Ave., Phila 1903

Arthur F. Hagar, 626 Westview Ave., Germantown, Phila 1906

Samuel S. Haines, M. D., Mill St. & Central Ave., Moorestown, N. J. . . 1901

Richard C. Harlow, Oak Lane, Phila 1904

David E. Harrower, Swarthmore, Pa 1905

Kenneth Howie, 48 Sedgewick Ave., Germantown, Phila 1904

William Johns, 5415 Master St., Phila 1905

William W. Justice, Jr., Clappier St. & Wissahickon Ave., Germantown,

Phila 1893

Thomas D. Keim, 3409 N. Twentieth St., Phila 1902

Raymond Kester, 1514 Chestnut St., Phila 1892

Nathan Kite, Moylan, Delaware Co., Pa 1898

M. Albert Linton, Haverford College, Pa. . 1905

Joseph B. Lodge, 3340 N. Sixteenth St., Phila 1900

Paul L. Lorrilliere, Collingdale, Del. Co., Pa 1904

David McCadden, 4204 Powelton Ave., W. Phila 1892

Richard C. McMurtrie, 152 Carpenter St., Germantown, Phila 1904

F. Guy Meyers, 1110 S. Forty-seventh St., W. Phila 1896

Wayne B. Morrell, 5521 Jefferson St., Phila 1905

Elmer Onderdonk, 4221 Parrish St., W. Phila 1903

Frederick N. Owen, 1812 Green St., Phila 1902

Clark J. Peck, 6728 Leeds St., Phila 1904

James F. Prenderqast, M. D., 3833 Spring Garden St., W. Phila. . . . 1899
Charles J. Rhoads, Bryn Mawr, Pa 1890

84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

William E. Roberts, George School, Bucks Co., Pa 1901

Anthony W. Robinson, 409 Chestnut St., Phila 1898

William B. Soheoing, 3024 W. York St., Phila . 1893

C. Few Seiss, 1338 Spring Garden St., Phila 1892

Edward A. Selliez, 1317 N. Nineteenth St., Phila 1902

William J. Serrill, Haverford, Pa 1891

Walter G. SiBLET, 6626. McCallum St., Germantown, Phila 1900

L. I. Smith, Jr., 3908 Chestnut St., W. Phila 1901

Walter Gordon Smith, 5870 Drexel Road, W. Phila 1898

Reynold A. Spaeth, 7300 Boyer St., Mt. Airy, Phila . .1901

John H. Steele, 4736 Kingsessing Ave., W. Phila., Phila 1903

J. Fletcher Street, Beverly, N. J 1903

Joseph W. Tatcm, 5220 Parkside Ave., W. Phila .' 1892

William H. Trotter, Chestnut Hill, Phila 1899

Brdce P. Tyler, Knowlton, Delaware Co., Pa 1904

Charles A. Voelker, Aldan, Delaware Co., Pa Founder.

Pacl Vossberg, 5222 Parkside Ave., Phila 1905

Charles S. Welles, Elwyn, Delaware Co., Pa 1900

Cornelius Weygandt, Wissahickon Ave., below Frank St., Germantown,

Phila 1891

A. L. Wheeler, Bryn Mawr, Pa 1905

Albert L. Wuitaker, Cedar Grove, Frankford, Phila 1896

James L. Whitaker, Cedar Grove, Frankford, Phila 1904

Walter R. White, Lansdowne, Delaware Co., Pa 1903

Edward W. Woolman, 44 N. Thirty-eighth St., W. Phila 1902

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.

Charles H. Baker, Verona, Alleghany Co., Pa 1900

Thomas J. Beans, Moorestown, N. J. . 1895

Herman Behr, Jennings, Md 1897

Otto Behr, Lopez, Sullivan Co., Pa 1897

W. H. Boller, Marietta, Lancaster Co., Pa 1895

Liedt. Frank B. Eastman, U. S. A., Presidio, San Francisco, Cal. . . . 1898

Marcus S. Farr, Princeton, N. J 1901

Harky L. Graham, Redlands, Cal 1897

Allen H. Grosh, York, York Co., Pa 1900

Henry Hales, Ridgewood, N. J 1895

H. Walker Hand, 1002 Washington St., Cape May, N. J 1900

Wm. E. Hannum, Lynn, Mass 1901

LaRde K. Holmes, Pine Grove Ave., Summit, N. J 1904

Thomas H. Jackson, West Chester, Pa 1895

J. Warren Jacobs, Wayneiburg, Greene Co., Pa 1895

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 85

AuonsT KooH, Williamsport, Pa. - 1895

Samuel B. Ladd, West Chester, Pa 1895

Waldron De W. Miller, Plainfield, N. J 1900

Howard Y. Pennell, M. D., Downingtown, Pa 1894

A. H. Phillips, Princeton, N. J ... 1895

M. W. Raob, M. D., Lancaster, Pa 1895

H. JcSTiN Roddy, State Normal School, Millersville, Lane. Co., Pa. . . . 1895

Ghas. H. Rogers, 39 Univ. Place, Princeton, N. J 1905

Frederick Sorensen, Chalmersgarten, Gothenburg, Sweden 1900

Frederick W. Stack, Plainfield, N. J 1905

Hugh E. Stone, Coatesville, Pa 1895

H. A. Surface, Harrisburg, Pa 1900

C. F. Sylvester, Princeton, N. J 1901

W. E. Clyde Todd, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg, Pa 1895

Henry Warrington, San Francisco, Cal 1896

Asa P. Way, Bridgeton, N. J 1902

William H. Werner, Atlantic City, N. J 1901

William L. Whitakek, Mitchell, Ind 1893

J. Jay Wisler, Columbia, Pa 1904

Robert T. Young, Cripple Creek, Colo 1892

DECEASED MEMBERS.

Died.

John Farncm Brown, Active member May 13, 1894

Walter D. Bush, Corresponding member August II, 1904

John W. Detwiller, M. D., Corresponding member . . . September 26, 1898

JosiAH HooPES, Corresponding member January 16, 1904

Gilbert H. Moore, Associate member May 28, 1899

William Patterson, Corresponding member August 27, 1900

Edwin Sheppard, Associate member April 7, 1904

William W. Smith, Associate member July 3, 1892

Samuel W. Woodhouse, M. D., Honorary member October 23, 1904

INDEX TO SPECIES.

Every mention of a bird, cither by common or technical name, except in the
migration tables, is indexed under the current technical name of the species.

Contopus virens, 6, 22, 41, 43, 48

Accipiter cooperi, 47

velox, 21, 44, 47
Actitis macularia, 47, 60, 75
Aegialitis semipalmata, 60
Agelaius phoeniceus, 19, 43,48, 62, 75
Alle alle, 59

Ammodramus henslowii, 48, 63
Ampelis cedrorum, 7, 15, 44, 49, 64
Anas obscura, 71, 72, 73

boschas, 72
Anthus pensilvanicus, 65, 72
Antrostoraus vociferus, 6, 15, 22, 44, 47
Ardea herodias, 19, 60
occidentalis, 70
Ardetta exilis, 25, 60
Arenaria morinella, 61
Asio wilsonianus, 61

accipitrimus, 61
Astragalinus tristis, 16, 43, 48, 62, 75
Aythyia americana, 72
vallisneria, 72

Baeolophus bicolor, 41, 44, 66, 74
Bartramia longicauda, 60
Bonasft umbellus, 19, 44, 47
Botaurus lentiginosus, 59, 72
Buteo borealis, 21, 42, 44, 47, 61

lineatus, 47, 61

platypterus, 21, 47, 61
Butorides virescens, 19, 47

Callipepla gambeli, 72
Canachites canadensis, 71
Cardinalis cardinalis, 41, 44, 64, 74
Carpodacus purpureus, 46, 48, 62
Cathartes aura, 43, 47, 61
Centurus carolinus, 42, 44, 61
Ceophloeus pileatus abieticola, 18, 71
Certhia fam. americana, 66
Ceryle alcyon, 15, 43, 47, 61
Chaetura pelagica, 7, 33, 43, 47
Charitonetta albeola, 59, 73
Chen hyperborea nivalis, 72
Chordeiles virginianus, 21, 43, 47
Circus hudsonius, 69
Clangula c. americana, 59
Coccyzus americanus, 16, 43

erythrophthalmus, 47
Colaptes auratus luteus, 7, 15, 18, 19,

20, 43, 47, 62, 68
Colinus virginianus, 20, 43, 61
Colymbus auritus, 59
Compsothlypis a. usneae, 9, 49

Corvus brachyrhynchos, 19, 20, 43, 48,
62, 70, 71
corax principalis, 19, 42
Coturniculus sav. passerinus, 15, 16,

17, 44, 48
Crex crex, 75

Cryptoglaux acadica, 61, 75
Cyanocitta cristata, 19, 20, 44, 48
Cyanospiza cyanea, 7, 15, 17, 21,44,49

Dafila acuta, 71, 72

Deiidroica aestiva, 9, 15, 44, 65

blackburniae, 9, 41, 44, 46,

50
caerulescens, 9, 49
castanea, 46, 50, 65
coronata, 46, 49, 65
maculosa, 9, 46, 50
pensylvanica, 9, 41, 44, 50
striata, 46, 50
tigrina, 64
vigorsii, 44, 50
virens, 9, 50

Dolichonyx oryzirorus, 46, 48, 62

Dryobates pubescens medianus, 15, 44,
47
villosus, 15, 18, 44, 47

Ectopistes migratorius, 71

Empidonax flaviventris, 62

minimus, 6, 18, 22, 44, 48
traillii alnorum, 18,48, 7a
virescens, 18

Ereunetes pusillus, 60, 76

Euphagus carolinus, 62, 71

Falco sparverius, 61
Fulica americana, 74

Galeoscoptes carolinensis, 7, 15, 44, 50,

68
Gallinago delicata, 60, 72
Gallinula galeata, 24
Geothlypis Philadelphia, 46, 50
trichas, 9, 44, 50, 68

Haliieetus leucocephalus, 47, 61, 76
Helminthophila chrysoptera, 49, 64

pinus, 64

rubricapilla, 9, 49, 64
Helmitherus vermivorus, 46, 49, 68
Helodromas solitarus, 17, 60, 74
Herodias egretta, 60

(87)

88

INDEX TO SPECIES.

Hirundo erythrogastra, 7, 15, 44, 4f>, 75
Hylocichla aliciae, 69

a. bicknelli, 20, 75
fuscescens, 9, 14, 19, 22,

50, 68, 73
g. pallasii, 7, 20, 22,67, 68,

71
mustelina, 7, 14,20, 21, 44,
50, 68

Icteria virens, 9, 44

Icterus galbula, 15, 43, 48, 68

spurius, 43, 46, 48
Iridoprocne bicolor, 19, 49

Junco hyemalis, 64

Lanius borealis, 64

ludoT. migrans, 16, 64, 72
Larus argentatus, 59, 71

atricilla, 59
Lophodytes cucullatus, 71
Loxia c. minor, 14, 62

Melanerpes erythrocephalus, 43, 61
Meleagris gallopavo silvestris, 41, 74
Melospiza cinerea melodia, 44, 49, 64,
68

georgiana, 18, 49, 64, 76
Merganser americanus, 59

serrator, 59, 71
Merula migratoria, 0, 7, 15, 19, 21, 37,

38, 44, 50, 67, 68, 76
Mniotilta varia, 9, 44, 49
Molothrus ater, 9, 15, 19, 43, 62
Myiarclius criuitus, 7, 22, 43, 48

Nettion carolinensis, 72
Numenius liudsonicus, 60
Nuttallornis borealis, 46, 48, 62
Nyctea njctea, 70
Nycticorax n. naevius, 60

Olbiorcliilus hiemalis, 65
Olor columbianus, 59
Otocoris alpestris, 62, 76

a. praticola, 17, 43, 62, 75
Oxyechus vociferus, 43

Pandion hal. carolinensis, 61, 71
Parus atricapillus, 19, 44, 50, 66
Passer domesticus, 6
Passerculug saudw. savanna, 63

princeps, 76
Passerella iliaca, 64, 76
Passerina nivalis, 62, 70
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, 72
Perisoreus canadensis, 71
Petrochelidon lunifrons, 15, 44, 49
Pbalacrocorax dilopbus, 59
Philobela minor, 44, 60
Picoides arcticus, 71

Picoides americanus, 71
Pipilo aberti, 72

erythropbtbalmus, 7, 19,20,41,
44, 49, 68, 76
Piranga erythromelas, 7, 15, 20, 44,49
Podilymbus podiceps, 59
Polioplila caerulea, 67
Pooecetes gramineus, 17, 44, 48, 63
Progne subis, 44

Querquedula discors, 59, 72, 73
Quiscalus quiscula, 19, 33, 36, 43, 48

Rallus elegans, 24, 25, 31, 60
Regulus satrapa, 66
Riparia riparia, 44, 49

Salpinctes obsoletus, 72
Sayornis pbcebe, 6, 14, 19.22,43, 48,62
Seiurus aurocapillus, 6, 15, 22, 41, 44,
50, 68
motacilla, 9-14, 44, 50, 65
noveboraceusis, 9, 12
Setophaga ruticilla, 60
Sialia sialis, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 44, 50,

67,68
Sitta canadensis, 15

carolinensis, 21, 44, 50, 66
pusilla, 73
Spbyrapicus varius, 61, 71
Spizella monticola, 63, 75

pusilla, 15, 17, 21,44, 48. 64,

75
socialis, 7, 44, 48
Squatarola squatarola, 60, 76
Stelgidopteryx serripennis, 64
Sturnella magna, 19, 43, 62

Telmatodytes palustris, 25, 65
Thryomanes bewickii, 42, 44, 65
Thryotliorus ludovicianus, 65, 75
Tetanus meUinoleucus, 60
Toxostoma rul'um, 20, 44, 50, 68
Tringa canutus, 60
Trochilus colubris, 15, 43, 47
Troglodytes aedon, 15, 18, 44
Tympanuchus cupido, 19
Tyrannus tyrannus, 15, 22, 43, 48

Vireo flavifrons, 44, 49
gilvus, 44

noveboraceusis, 14, 44, 04
olivaceus, 7, 15, 19, 41, 44, 49
solitarius, 7, 46, 49

Wilsonia canadensis, 9, 46, 50

mitrata, 9, 41, 44, 46, 50, 65
pusilla, 46, 50, 65

Zenaidura macroura, 21, 43, 47, 61
Zonotrichia albicoUis, 63, 68
leucopbrys, 63, 73

ISSUED FEBRUARY. 1907.

CASSINIA

An Annual eci to the Ornitholpgy ol

Pennsyl Jersey, and Delaware.

!rM-nr<i pir^'-r) Gkokge Spek

Cornelius Wi
uy, Pennsylvania. Ricir'Auo C. i
vtUe Kobin and Grackle Roost

,1.1, X 0, Cs:;-. -'

.e Spring Migration of 1906
•jlogy
A bstract of the Proceedings of the Delaware
Vnllci' Ornithologiral Club for ,or»'')

Bi) / for 1906

"i,u 1^1, iL- .votes ■

it of Officers and Members of the E

PUBLICATIONS OF THE D. V. 0. O.

I lit £iirij£ of Ecsterh Pei ' ■ lia ond P^ew Jersey, by W;i

Stf .!'(', pp. ir .vo mans and portrait nf

>ne DolL-

' r-sti-CCt O.. ACS. i-iV, (1890^191, (

. ssinici, I i 'inning with 1901 ; co'

papers r nithology of Pennsylvania,

New Teiii..;y aiiO :e, and an abstract of tlie

l>iiu.eedings of th- Edited liy Witiri,^r Srone.

Subscription prifc Fifty cent =

A.iires. Delaware vouey Oimthoiogical Club,

Academy of jNfatural Sciences,

Logan Sqt^are^ Philadelphia .

Mr^Sa^.

-a^rrt —

CASSINIA

PROCEEDINGS OF THE DELAWARE VALLEY
ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB

No. X. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1906.

William Bartram

BY GEORGE SPENCER MORRIS

The name of Bartram had been famihar to me from child-
hood. This familiarity I held in common with all properly
brought-up Philadelphians, and doubtless with a large majority
of naturalists throughout the English-speaking world. But
when I came to question myself for information regarding the
man, or men, who brought fame and honor to this name, I
found a distressing lack of knowledge. It came down to some-
thing like this : that John Bartram was a botanist who dwelt in
a most attractive house in the midst of a beautiful garden.
That his son William was a friend and patron of Alexander
Wilson, and hence it was safe to conclude that he was somewhat
of an ornithologist himself.

With a desire to increase mj' knowledge of these two men,
and especially of William, the sultject of this sketch, I have
sought for information regarding them in such directions as lay
open to me. I now venture to present a brief synopsis of the
results of my research to the readers of Cassinia.

In 1682 there came to Pennsylvania from Derbyshire, Eng-
land, a worthy Quaker named John Bartram. With his wife

J. PROCEEDINGS OF THE

and four children he settled near Darby in Delaware County.
The third son, William, was the only child to marry. His
Quaker wife was Elizabeth, daughter of James Hunt. The
children of this union were John, James and William, and a
daughter who died young. John, the eldest, was the botanist.
He was born March 23, 1699. I must refer l:>ut briefly to this
pioneer in the study of American plant-life.

Bred upon the farm and educated in the country school, he
developed at an early age a deep love of nature. Having grown
to manhood, he took uj) the study of Latin, so as to be able to
read the descriptions of i)lants in the Latin works of European
botanists. William, in writing of his father, says: "He had
an inclination to the study of physic and surgery, and did much
towards relieving the ailments of his poor neighbors." There
is good reason to believe that this interest in medicine and heal-
ing herbs gave the first impetus to his serious study of botany.

John Bartram married twice. His first wife was Slary Maris.
She died in 1727. There were two sons, Richard and John, by
this marriage. In September, 1729, John Bartram married
Ann Mendenhall, who survived him. The)' had nine children,
five boys and four girls. The third son was William, who, with
his twin sister Elizabeth, was born February 9, 1739.

In 1728 John Bartram purchased a tract of ground on the
west bank of the Schuylkill River near Gray's Ferry. " Here,"
says William, "he built, with his own hands, a large and com-
fortable house of hewn stone, and laid out a garden containing
about five acres." Of course he must have had some necessary
assistance in this work, but it is an undoubted fact that he was
a skilled mechanic and mason. During his lifetime he is said
to have built four other houses. There is well-executed carv-
ing about the doors and windows of the Bartram mansion.
Upon a stone in the wall is cut :

"John * Ann IUktkam— 1731."

Over the front door of his study is carved the inscription :

'"Tii God alone, Almigbty Lord,
The Holy One, by me adored.

John Bautram, 1770."

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 6

Although a man of deeply rehgious nature, he was neverthe-
less exceedingly broad and liberal in his beliefs. So independent
did he become in his religious views that in later life he was dis-
owned by the Society of Friends. William's religious attitude
appears to have corresponded with that of his father. Their
views were simply those of present-day Unitarians. William,
however, never severed his connection with Friends. Over the
■door of John Bartram's greenhouse were written these lines :

" Slave to no sect, who takes no private road,
But looks through Nature up to Nature's God."

William's boyhood was spent under the care and influence of
this broad-minded, nature-loving father, and with the now
famous garden growing up about him. It was not strange that
he too should develop the tastes and instincts of the naturalist
and seek to follow in his father' footsteps.

When William was fifteen years of age, we find the elder
Bartram writing to his friend Peter Collinson of England — a
wealthy Quaker greatly interested in horticulture — and enclos-
ing some of William's drawings of natural objects. At about
this time he took him on a trip to the Catskills. In 1765 Bar-
tram writes to Collinson as follows : "I design to set Billy to
draw all our turtles, with remarks as he has time, which is only
on Seventh Days in the afternoons and First Day mornings, for
he is constantly kept to school to learn Latin and French."
One might infer from this that William and his father were not
altogether regular in their attendance at First Day meeting.
Young Bartram thus earlj' showed skill as an artist, and it is
evident that his father did not want him to be hampered in his
studies, as he himself had been through lack of French and
Latin.

In another letter written to Collinson, Bartram writes as fol-
lows : " My son William is just turned of sixteen. It is now
time to propose some way for him to get his living by. I don't
want him to be what is commonly called a gentleman. I want
to put him to some business by which he may with care and in-
dustry get a temperate, reasonable living. I am afraid that
botany and drawing may not afford him one, and hard labour

4 PBOCEEDIXGS OP THE

don't agree with him. I have designed several years to put
him to a doctor to learn physic and surgery, but that will take
him from his drawing, which he takes particular delight in.
Pray, my dear friend Peter, let me have thy opinion about it."

About this time Benjamin FrankUn offered to teach William
the trade of printing. His father, however, did not think the
outlook for printing in Pennsylvania a good one. Franklin aLsa
suggested engraving. Finally at the age of eighteen William
was placed with a Philadelphia merchant named Child, and re-
mained with him for about four years. Having thus serv-ed his
apprenticeship, and arrived at his twenty-second year, he left
the paternal roof for Cape Fear, North Carolina, where he set up
as a trader, his uncle William having established himself there
as a young man many years before. In the meantime the
elder Bartram, notwithstanding his advancing years, was mak-
ing frequent expeditions throughout the Eastern and Southern
States in the interests of science.

The Indians were at this period in a belligerent mood. The
old gentleman seems to have had no high regard for them. In
one of his letters he says that the only way to make peace with
the Indians "is to bang them stoutly." William appears to
have been of a gentler nature, and to have felt a deep sympathy
for the red man in the cruel and unjust treatment often meted
out to him by the whites. It is possible that the somewhat
combative nature of John Bartram may have been one of the
reasons for his final exclusion from the Societj' of Friends.

At length through the influence of Peter CoUinson, King
George the Third appointed John Bartram his " Botanist for the
Floridas," with a salary of fifty pounds a year. Accordingly,
in the autumn of 1765 he started for the southern peninsula,
and feeling the need of a companion, he took William with
him, his business venture at Cape Fear having been far from
successful. WilUam states that they had been ordered to search
for the sources of the river San Juan (St. John's), and that they
ascended the river for almost its entire length, about 400 miles,
bv one bank, and descended by the opposite shore. They made
careful surs-ey of the stream, its branches, and the lakes con-
necting therewith. They also made notes of the lay of the land,

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLL^. O

the character of the soil, and of the plants, birds, mammals, and
fishes seen on the expedition. The report of this journej', to-
gether with most of the collections made thereon, were forwarded
to England, where they met with high praise from the people
and king.

\\'illiam was much taken with the Floridas, and with the
assistance of his father established himself as an indigo planter
on the St. John's River. But this business venture also ended
disasterously, and a year later we find him at work on a farm
near his father's home.

Collinson, who had always taken a keen interest in the boy,
now wrote that the Duchess of Portland, " a great virtuoso in
shells and all marine productions," had just dined at his house
and been greatly impressed with some of William's drawings.
She accordingly forwarded twenty guineas and a list of objects
which she wished him to draw for her. Dr. Fothergill, a
wealthy Quaker naturalist of England, and a great friend of
John Bartram, now began to send him orders for drawings of
shells, turtles, terrapin, and other natural objects. His interest
and patronage extended even further than this, for he fairly
launched William on his career as a full-fledged naturalist. In
1772 he began explorations in Carolina, Georgia and Florida,
and for about five years the expenses of these journeys were
borne by Dr. Fothergill. Young Bartram, however, turned
over to his patron all drawings and collections made on these
expeditions.

In 1791 he published his piincipal book, entitled, "Travels
through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West
Florida, the Cherokee Country, the extensive Territories of the
Muscogueges or Creek Confederacy and the Country of the
Choctaws."

These southern Indians seem to have aroused a warm and
kindly interest in the gentle naturalist. In his charming
journal he treats in much detail of their manners and customs.
He found them to be for the most part intelligent and hospit-
able, and he was convinced that their worst faults came through
contact with the W'hites. This book of William Bartram' s
southern travels is rich in interest and graphic in its literary

b PROCEEDINGS OP THE

style, reminding one at times of the writings of DeFoe. The
poet Coleridge, in referring to it, said : "The latest book of
travels I know, written in the spirit of the older travellers, is
Bartram's account of his tonr in the Floridns. It is a work of
high merit every way."

On September 22, 1777, John Bartrani died at the age of
seventy-eight. After his father's death, William continued the
vigorous pursuit of the study of natural history, making his
home for the most part with his brother John, who inherited
the mansion and its now famous botanical garden.

In 1782 William Bartram was elected Professor of Botany in
the University of Pennsylvania, but declined the honor on
account of ill health. He M'as also elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society, and of various other learned
bodies in both Europe and America. Bartram was clever with
tools, and, as we have before said, skillful in the handling of
pencil and brush. His illustrations, showing much artistic
merit, may be found in several of the scientific works of his
da}', notably in Professor Barton's Elements of Botany. His
literary stj'le was for the most part simple and graphic. At
times his enthusiasm in his subject caused him to be somewhat
extravagant in his statements. Some of his more flowery pas-
sages remind one of the pen of Audubon. When dealing with
purely scientific matter his words are always carefully chosen,,
intelligent and instructive.

The life and work of William Bartram are best summed up
in his own words, when in speaking of himself he saj's: "Con-
tinuallj' impelled by a restless spirit of curiosity, in pursuit of
new productions of nature, my chief happiness consisted in
tracing and admiring the infinite power, majesty and perfection
of the great Almighty Creator, and in the contemplation, that,
through divine aid and permission I might be instrumental in
discovering and introducing into my native country some origi-
nal productions of nature which might he useful to society."

And now it may be asked, " WHiat claim has William Bar-
tram to special recognition as an ornithologist, and why does
Cassinia regard him as entitled to a place in its list of men noted
in this branch of study?" To this we would reply that in the

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. i

year 1802 Alexander Wilson took charge of the little school at
Kingsessing, near Gray's Ferry and soon made the acquaint-
ance of our gentle Quaker naturalist. It is our firm belief, that
had it not been for this actjuaintance, which soon ripened into
a warm friendship, Wilson's American Ornithology would never
have been carried to a successful end. In fact there is evidence
to show that its inspiration and commencement were directly
due to the influence and assistance of William Bartram.

All that Harris and other friends and patroiis were to Audu-
bon, he was to Wilson, and far more, ^^'i]son was well nigh
penniless and friendless; with none of Audubon's grace of per-
son and charm of manner, to say nothing of his brilliant and
highly cultivated artistic powers. But in this uncouth Scotch-
man Bartram recognized the mind and heart of a true nature
lover, and patiently began to give him the instruction and as-
sistance which finally resulted in his taking up the study of
birds as his life work. It is evident that all the ornithological
lists and notes of William Bartram were put at Wilson's dis-
posal. Wilson quotes him constantly and gives him the full
credit due for this generous help. Unquestionably Bartram's
list of birds of the eastern United States was the most correct
and complete record of its kind before the time of Wilson;
while his "Anecdotes of a Crow " and " Description of Certhia "
show him to have been a close student of birds. Wilson in
writing to him in 1807 says, "The receipt of yours of the 11th
inst. , in which you approve of my intended publication of
American Ornithology gave me much satisfaction; and your
promise of befriending me in the arduous attempt commands
my unfeigned gratitude. From the opportunities I have lately
had of examining into the works of Americans who have treated
of this part of our natural history, I am satisfied that none of
them have bestowed such minute attention on the subject as
you yourself have done. Indeed they have done little more
than copied your nomenclature and observations and referred to
your authority. To have you therefore to consult with in the
course of this great jjublication, I consider a most happy and
even auspicious circumstance; and I hope you will on all occa-
sions, be a rigid censor and kind monitor, whenever you find

8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

me deviating from the beauties of nature or the truth of descrip-
tion." At this time Wilson was undoubtedly making diligent
search for all the extant literature on American birds, and the
above quotation clearly shows that he had found no writer who
had dealt more fully with the subject than William Bartram.

It is doubtless true that Bartram's most important work was
in botanical lines, but ornithology, conchology, ichthyology and
entomology also claimed his close attention. In short he was a
fine example of the old-fashioned naturalist, a type now well-
nigh lost. The day of excessive specialization had not arrived,
the country was young and its wonders unstudied. The two
Bartrams were among the very first of our really important
naturalists. It is not strange that their work should have been
of a somewhat general character at a time when every steji re-
vealed wonders hitherto unknown. It is hard for us now to
realize the utterly crude state of scientific knoM'ledge in this
country a century ago. The naturalist of to-day cannot but
feel a little envious of the splendid field for original work which
lay open to these old pioneer students.

Wilson was not the only one who received assistance and ad-
vice from William Bartram. A biographical sketch by an un-
known author says, ' ' Mr. Bartram was a source of reference to
many naturalists of his day, and there was scarcely an Ameri-
can or foreign writer who attempted the natural history of this
country but applied to him for information on relative treatises,
and in many instances his generous contributions were received
and diffused to the world by other writers without giving credit
to the proper author."

William Bartram never married and the ties of family there-
fore did not interfere seriously with his work. His disposition
was affectionate and kindly, and his demeanor somewhat re-
served. He was short in stature; the expression of his counten-
ance was refined and intellectual. While his general health was
good his constitution was never vigorous or robust. His tem-
perate habits and outdoor life were doubtless the cause of his
reaching the advanced age of eight3'-five years.

On the morning of July 22, 1823, he was writing the descrip-
tion of a plant in the little study used by his father and himself

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. V

for such purposes. He then rose from his desk to take his cus-
tomary stroll through the beautiful garden. He had gone but
a few steps from the door when he burst a bloodvessel, and
thus suddenlv closed his useful life.

A Study of the Solitary Vireo

BY CORNELIUS WEYGANDT

The song of the Solitary Vireo brings home to me the realiza-
tion that there are birds' songs as distinctively minor as minor
poets. Beautiful and mad and memorable as it is, the .Solitary's
song is as surely minor, compared with the Wood Thrush's, as
Herrick is minor compared with Milton. It is no belittlement
of Herrick to call him a minor poet, and in calling the Solitary
Vireo a minor singer I intend all praise. I would place him
first of all minor singers as artist, although quality of voice and
long love make me hold more precious the Field Sparrow's
song, as surely a minor bird-song as is the Solitary's, or the
Southern Water Thrush's, another bird that, like my Vireo,
the books have failed to praise sufficiently. My purpose is to
praise the Solitary Vireo, but inasmuch as I would praise him
only to his honor, I want at once to confess that his song must
not be contrasted with the songs all of us will own as major,
the songs of the Bobolink, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Mocking-
bird, Veery, Hermit Thrush, and Wood Thrush. I would con-
fess as frankly that the Solitary Vireo's song would suffer, heard
side by side with the Orchard Oriole's, the Winter Wren's, the
Fox Sparrow's, far greater as an artist as the Vireo is than these
last-named three. For associations' sake I hold dearer the
Redwing's fluted "okalee," the Whitethroat's "far lonely
silver strain," the House Wren's homey prattle, the Bluebird's
soft warble with all the spring in it, and the purity of a child's
heart. But what a fine fellow the Solitary is ! Like so many
woodlanders, he is sober enough in his dress and gentle enough
in his ways; but he is every feather of his five and a half inches
the artist, a madcap singer, a gloater in the drijijiing sweetness
of his bridal-song.

It was in northeastern Pennsylvania, where the Poconos look

(10)

DELAWARE VALLEY OKNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 11

over to the Catskills, that the Vireo's song won nie. It was
exciting to me to hear unexpectedly so heautiful a bird-song ;
it was doubly exciting in that it was the first time I had listened
to it ; it broke in on me with all the thrill ot a discovery, for I
had not read that the Solitary was so fine a singer. I had
stopped day after day, as I passed his home by the roadside, to
look at him and his mate busy about their nest. I had taken a
Cowbird's egg from it in the hope that, that danger removed,
they might rear their young, indiscreet though they had been in
trusting them to so low a limb in so exposed a place ; I had
even smoothed her dark head as she sat on the nest and
chucked her under her soft white chin, but no song had I heard
save the twuweet, tiouweet, tivieichuweet, turn, that jiroclaimed him
a Vireo from its likeness to the Redeye's song, but not that
bird but his fine self, through its greater keenness and fulness.
Then the day after the catastrophe, the day after we found the
parents in distress, and but one young in the nest, and it dead,
came the revelation. I was following the winding red road
through the low rock oaks of the mountain-top, conscious that
the Solitary Vireo was singing, but paying no special heed to
him, when all of a sudden there leaped up a jetting little song,
like the Catbird's in its ecstasy, but gentler and more caressing.
From such intricate sweet warbling it fell to livelv trilling, not
unlike the Yellowbird's prolonged trilling, to rise at the end to
another Catbird-like burst. I looked up and just above me was
the Solitary Vireo, revolving his head in that dizzying fashion so
characteristic of his kind, as he eyed about for prey. But the
madness of remating was upon him, and he soon fell to warb-
ling and trilling again, preceding each outburst with his usual
song. I had heard few birds with songs so long and so varied,
and put him down then and there as the best of his race, and
one of the very best of any race.

Charming in his trustfulness and little ways, I had known
him before; and beautiful, as I had watched him as he sat on
the nest, relieving his mate, that you could scarcely distinguish
from him, for her ramble for food. But now he was revealed a
really great singer, of little volume though his finer notes. For
two weeks after this day, July 15th, you might hear this fine

12 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

full song here, there, and everywhere, through the mountain-
top woods. He would break into it about every half hour,
sometimes about every quarter hour, and continue singing for
some five minutes with short intervals of silence between. Then
for twenty minutes, or maybe only for ten minutes, he would
be busy hunting, uttering, as he hunted, his usual keen song.
In few half hours would you total a silence of more than five
minutes. In the hotter hours he would be silent for longer in-
tervals but j'ou would hazard a good chance of hearing him at
any time of day if you halted for ten minutes anywhere within
his usual hunting-ground. His usual ticuweet, tivuweet, twiet-
chuweet, tu.ni, carries a good quarter of a mile, but his bridal
song is not of such penetrating quality. To get its every note
you must be within a hundred feet of the bird singing.

The full story of his life during the three months I lived with
him on the top of Buck Hill I cannot write, but what I did
learn of it interested me deeply. When I came upon the
nest on June 16th, the birds had just finished it, and as I
visited it for a week afterwards I would generally find her in
the nest. This week she was laying. At its end I looked into
the nest for the first time and found in it four eggs, very like
the familiar Redeye's, with an irregular circle of fine brown and
black dashes and spots around the greater end, and a Cowbird's
egg. I took the intruder's egg and one of the Vireo's eggs, for
the Cowbird had indented it in dropping in her own. On blow-
ing them I found both fresh. I did not look into the nest again
until July 14th, the day after the tragedy, but I had noticed
the old birds feeding young a week earlier.

The comradeship of the two during incubation had been very
winning. As one sat upon the eggs the other would come fly-
ing swiftly to a dead limb alwve and then drop to the little
branch from which the nest was swung, landing not a foot away
from it. Here the incoming bird would mew, ever so caress-
ingly, and the bird on the nest would answer in the same low
tone. Sometimes the interchange of greetings would be followed
by interchange of positions, the sitting bird first unsettling itself
gently from the eggs and then flitting off to alight beside its
mate. The incomer would lift itself into the nest as deftlv and

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 13

then after a few more mutual mews the relieved bird would be
off to the oak-tops. Once the sitting bird, this time I suppose
the male, sang while brooding on the nest when the other re-
turned.

Almost on the wood-edge as it was and not ten feet back from
a little opening off the road and scarcely over head-high, it was
easy to watch the nest. I could follow the bird's comings and
goings through the open wood without difficulty. I got to know
well some details of their living and something of their ways.
Since they took turns on the nest I had a chance to compare
their appearances, but with the exception that after two weeks'
sitting one seemed duller than the other I could not say which
was which nor could I tell which sat longer save that it seemed
that I found the duller one oftener on the nest. This one,
which, of course, I took to be the female, was much the tamer
of the two, so tame that gradually she came to eat hard-boiled
eggs and crumbed cracker from the finger of one of the ladies
from the nearby hotel.* Anyone could stand within six feet and
pick out her dainty coloring, which justified the name "Blue-
headed Vireo" much more than her ways did the name "Soli-
tary." I have chosen the name Solitary as more usual and
more euphonious, greatly regretting that so charming a bird is
unnamed in the vernacular. As she sat on the eggs her white
chin, projecting over the side of the nest, contrasted quite dis-
tinctly with her dark blue-gray head and green-grey back. The
white line over her eye and the two wing-bars of yellowish-
white could be easily distinguished. When she hopped off of
the nest you could see the yellow flush on her sides. In the
tree-tops she looked brownish-gray.

She sat faithfully in all weathers. When the heat was so in-
tense that she panted even in the shade in which she had built,
and in steady downpours of rain, and on days of cold wind
when her cradle swung as if it would turn over, she was at her
post. After much devotion it was the hardest of fates that the
young should be destroyed. Just what destroyed them I never
could determine. It may have been deer-mice, of which there

* Cf. E. R. Lyman, in Bird Lore, 1906, p. 123.

14 PROCEEDINGS OK THE

were legion roundabout, it may have been a chipmunk, or a red
squirrel, or a snake. Sometimes I think that overkindness in
feeding the mother brought death to the young, for she would
regurgitate the egg and cracker given lier and feed it to them.
Again, I wonder if lice were not responsible, for there were
many in the nest, and even while the one squab that had not
disappeared was lying in the nest the mother came back and
carefully ate the lice off the nest and the little bird, whose plumj)
and unwounded body puzzled me as to how it came by its end.

The lateness of the nest's building would indicate that its
builders had already tried to raise a brood before this attemj)t,
and the presence a hundred yards further down the mountain
of a nest whose eggs were destroyed about June 1st, made it
more likely that the nest of which I write was the second failure.

During the rcmating of mid-.Jul\' the male started to l)uild
again just back of our shack, but he never got further with it
than the wrajiping of tlie silk of little cocoons around the two
twigs of the fork of a little maple. I saw him here off and on
for a week; but either the site proved on second consideration
disadvantageous, or the birds concluded it was too late now to
attempt a third brood. After the beginning of the last week in
Jul}', I did not see him fussing about the little maple, although
he still visited us daily. I never saw his mate there at all,
though she frequently accompanied him on his visits to our
trees until August 13th. This was the last day until September ■
2d on which T heard him sing liis shorter song, (u-un-cet, twuweet.
iunetchmveet, turu. The mating-song had died away two weeks
earlier. Early in September, after an absence of three weeks,
and now moulting, the two revisited us again. It may be the
moulting had kept them in hiding. I would like to think that
it was family cares, but I am afraid it was not, for when they
returned there were no young with them, as there were with two
pairs of Redeyes, late in the season though it was. September
7th was the last day on which I saw the Solitarj' Vireo, and then
it was in the neighborhood of the nest where I had watched
them for a month.

It is not as they were, the last time I saw them, nor as tlie
settled brooding pair of the late June, but as the wandering

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 15

madcap singer and his mate of mid-July that I shall remember
them. And when I think of that quickening song there comes
■with the memorj' a sense of tlie presence of those mountain-top
woods, the tannj' odor of their decaying leaves, the beauty of
their pale-yellow false foxgloves standing stiffly up from their
brown floor, the infinity of their rank on rank of low rock oaks.
And forever now I may not see one of these three without recall-
ing the others, and the half light of those woods to which they
gave such charm — rock oaks, false foxgloves, and the Vireo's
song.

Summer Birds of Western Pike County,
Pennsylvania

BY RICHARD C. HARLOW

The primeval forests which once towered above the nigged
sides of the Alleghanies are fast becoming a thing of the past,
and no more is it possible to journey for days at a time under
the shade of the giant hemlocks. With the denudation of the
forest land come totally different conditions in the avifauna.
Our northern breeders which used to be found commonly over
all the higher mountains are gradually being pressed back into
favored localities, in which they may still find respite from the
hot rays of the sun that beat down upon dead stumps and rocky
slopes where once were cool forests and beds of damp moss. It
is a sad scene, and one which I know has been dwelt upon time
and time again; yet fresh from the contemplation of the changed
conditions I feel constrained to add my testimony, as well as
my regret for the fearful destruction that axe and fire have
wrought. Our only gratification is that there still remain spots
where we may still find bits of the original forest remaining,
and with them the remnants of the Canadian fauna which was
formerly so much more of a feature in the wild life of Pennsyl-
vania. I have been privileged to look upon one of these small
bits of timber, wofully small it is true, but just enougli to make
one hunger for more, and in the following pages I shall endeavor
to present such birds as it was there my good fortune to see.

Between the counties of Pike and Wayne, in the northeastern
part of the State, the Wallenpaupack creek pushes its way to
join the Paupack river. It is a typical mountain stream, har-
boring numerous trout, and its banks a mass of laurel thickets.
The mountains here have been for the most part denuded of
their original forest some forty years back, and in the place of
the hemlock has sprung up in most cases a deciduous forest of

(16)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 17

sugar-maple, birch and chestnut, all these trees reaching a con-
siderable size, while on certain slopes there is naught save a
low scrub growth of huckleberry and other shrubs.

In several spots however about the valley of the Wallenpau-
pack are to be found small clumps of hemlocks, the principal
group being located in the vicinity of Loanna, Pike county.
It is in these places, the pitiful remains of the primeval forest,
that we find the typical northern birds. Along the creek are dense
clumps of rhododendron and laurel, practically impenetrable,
and here the Canadian Warbler literally abounds, but it is nearly
impossible to find the nest in the protecting fastnesses of the
rhododendron.

To this vicinity I have made two trips, the first in August,
1905, and again June fl-16, 190G. The lateness of the season
rendered my notes of the first trip of little value so far as indi-
cating the breeding birds of the region; but I have eliminated
all those concerning which there was any doubt in this connec-
tion, so that my completed list of ninety-four species contains
only breeders. Mr. Bayard Long was with me on both trips
and Mr. Paul Lorrilliere on the second, and to both of these
gentlemen I am under obligations for much valuable assistance.
The latter in particular I found to be an excellent arbitrator
with rural game wardens and I cheerfully recommend him aa
such.

On both these trips we stopped in the vicinity of Loanna,
Pike Co., and practically all the notes are from Pike rather
than Wayne Co. The elevation varies from 1800 to 2000 feet.
Of the general Natural History of the region I am able to say
but little. Deer are decidedly rare ; wildcats common and
bear not scarce. Our nearest adventure with a bear was the
sight of a cub doing a mile in record time, in an opposite direc-
tion from us. Squirrels are abundant, both gray and red, and
in 1905 I saw one of the black variety. Coons, foxes, mink,
skunks and other small mammals are very common. Flowers
were very abundant, many typical northern varieties such as
Glintonia borenlis being noticed. Along with these were several
northern butterflies, e. g., Vanessa mUherti, Argynnis atlantis,
etc. It was the birds that I was particularly concerned with.

18 PROCEEOrNGS OP THE

One of the first sights which greeted us on onr drive from the
station to our lodging-place on the second trip was a Bald Eagle
soaring on motionless wings above the valley. This bird though
local was not rare, and was usually seen along the borders of
some lakes dammed for the production of ice. These lakes also
attracted other species. On them we saw our only Night Herons
and Green Herons, but very few of either. Ospreys also had
their abodes here and about the borders the Nashville Warbler
was a rare summer resident. I noted it but once in 1906, a
male in full song.

The Great Blue Heron is rare in this region and but two were
seen by our party, while only one Woodcock was recorded.

By far the most abundant water bird was the Spotted Sand-
piper, which is everywhere a common summer resident. At
least four pairs of these birds were nesting about a small mill
dam, and it was noticeable that they kept to the open water,
not being found in the forests. Just the opposite was the case
with a pair of their cousins, the rare Solitary Sandpiper, which
I saw in 1905 along with three young. It was in the deepest
part of the forest, wliere the stream tunnbled noisily over a sort
of log jam, that I came upon them. I could scarcely convince
myself that these birds had nested in Pennsylvania, but the size
of the young entirely precluded any question of protracted
flight, so that I was forced to believe that the parent had been
unfortunate in their first attempt at rearing j^oung, and these
were the result of a second effort. After a scramble over
the logs and the stones, I succeeded in catching one of the
young, and having inspected it, released it. In the meantime
the parents showed but little concern over my action, though
one, probably the male,* silently flew several times about
me. The rest of the young had hidden among the logs, and
upon releasing mj' captive he rushed out into deep water and
proceeded to sioim for the logs. The current was too strong,
however, and took him past and on down stream. I was just
becoming apprehensive as to his safety, when he chnibed upon
a stone and bowed in his best form.

» Cf. Oolugisl, March, 1!>0G, p. 39.

deijAwaee valley ornithological club. 19

Another denizen of these mountain streams is the Water
Thrush. Both species were found, but in my experience S.
noveboracensis was the most common. S. motaciUa seemed rare
and shy. On June 12 we were close to the nest of the latter,
but searched for it in vain.

All through these woods are found the Ruffed Grouse. Their
young were about four or five days old when we arrived, and
every day we would meet with one or more broods. The little
ones were adejtts in hiding, while their parents fairly outdid
themselves in attempting to draw us from them. After the failure
of the broken-wing tactics, they invariably tried to frighten
us. PufRng themselves up after the manner of a Sandpiper,
they would approach cautiously, all the time uttering a distinct
hissing sound, and finally becoming disgusted at their vain en-
deavors would flj' away. These birds were heard to drum
frf'(|ucntly.

Hawks and Owls are rather common. The Sharp-shinned is
seen frequently }'et is by no means common, while the Cooper's
is scarce. The Red-tail and Red-shouldered are both common,
the former the more so. Several nests were observed far up in
hemlocks. The Broad-winged Hawk was noticed in 1905. Of
the Owls the Screech Owl is of course the most common, while
the Barred is taken frequently, but the Great Horned is the
best known Owl of the region. The}' are frequently shot, and
to our delight we were serenaded by them on June 14.
According to tradition these birds may alwaj's be found at a
locality called "Owl Hoot," where they nest.

Doves were common and in song. Of the Cuckoos the Black-
billed was the only one noticed and was everywhere common as
was the Kingfisher in suitable localities.

Both the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are found com-
monly and nest, and on both trips I met the lordly Pileated
Woodpecker which seems to be of regular occurrence though
rare. Contrary to my expectations they were not hard to ap-
proach. Numerous dead hemlocks attested to the drilling
powers of their bills, and I was led at great labor to climb one
of the great trunks in search of a nest only to find that the hole
" did not so down."

20 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

I was glad to hear the harsh note of the Sapsucker on June
12, and later to see the bird in its summer home.

The orchards were the homes of the Flycatchers and they
were in abundance; the Kingbird, Great Crested Fh'catcher and
Wood Pewee, and about every barn and bridge the Phoebe ;
but they were all surpassed in abundance by the homely Chebec.
This was the bird of the orchards and was everywhere one of the
most abundant birds. Singularly enough the one nest which
I found was not in the usual situation, but in a birch in the
woods. Next to the Chebec the Cedarbird was the most com-
mon bird in the fruit trees; practically every orchard having its
pair and some several. One thing that struck me was the fact
that nearly everj' pair I observed began building on exactly the
same date, — June 10. In orchards and woodlands the Flicker
as usual was found abundantly.

Every evening the Nighthawks would gather in small bands
and sail back and forth in the gloaming, uttering their discord-
ant cries. These continued until dark when the Whip-poor-
wills took up the refrain. Both these birds were more common
than the Chimney Swift, which was found in only limited numbers
nesting frequently in barns. Of the Hummingbirds there were
more than I have ever seen before: one nest was found on June
12. One of the most interesting birds which it was my privi-
lege to meet was the Prairie Horned Lark. The summits of
several of the mountains about Loanna consist entirel}' of
upland meadows, flat stretches of land with no trees whatever.
Very little bird life is to be observed in these situations, a few
Meadowlarks, Vesper and Grasshopper Sparrows being about
all It was in these places that we came upon this bird, and so
far as I could ascertain they were regular, being observed on
both trips, ^^'hen not nesting they travel aimlessly about after
the manner of their northern relatives in winter. In 1905 I saw
them several times in flocks of about seven individuals, evi-
dently family parties, but in 1906 they were seen chiefly in
pairs. One of these birds evidently had a nest in a field where
the young grain was about three inches high, but though both
male and female frequently flew in with grasshoppers in their
beaks, we sought in vain. Mr. Lorrilliere first suggested to me

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 21

the similarity of their flight to that of the Bluebird. The only
note which I heard them utter was essentially the same as that
of the tj'pical 0. alpeslris.

In these same pastures we noted the Savanna Sparrow evi-
dently nesting in small numbers. Occasionally these little birds
would dart out from under one's foot and speed away, resemb-
ling the Sharptailed Sparrow of the salt marshes.

Crows are found commonly in this county, but they are not
such a feature as in the Delaware V^alley. Already in June
they were traveling about in small bands, for after the nesting
season. Crows seem to wish for company, and the Pike county
individuals are no exception.

The Blue Jay is rather common and well distributed, and
their discordant cries are heard throughout the wooded districts.

We were startled one day by an ominous cry from down in
the valley far below us. It was the unmistakable " crruch,
crruch" of a Raven. We did not see the bird but it was re-
ported as of occasional occurrence, and I am satisfied that we
could not have been mistaken in the note.

There were few open swamps and Redwinged Blackbirds were
necessarily scarce, but I was at a loss to account for the appar-
ent rarity of theCowbird, as on the two trips but three individuals
were noted. Rather more common is the Meadowlark, which
is to be found in all suitable fields though abundant nowhere.
Along the roads, about houses, and in the orchards was found
the Baltimore Oriole. Never before have I heard Orioles sing
so richly as those of Loanna. It is one of my most treasured
memories of the place. The Crackles were not common here
and I saw only one or two. Whether they were aeneus or
quisada I cannot say, but I presume they were aeneus.

On June 15th while strolling along a road through the open
country a flock of birds about the size of Bobolinks flew over
our heads at a considerable distance and soon were lost to sight.
Later in the afternoon, while still wondering what they were, we
came upon the whole flock perched in some walnut trees. A glance
told us they were American Crossbills. The flock of about thirty
contained both mature and immature birds, though the latter
predominated. They were by no means shy but sat contentedly,

22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

some high, some low, in the wahiut trees, frequently giving
utterance to a metallic "chuck." This note was also sounded
when on the wing; their actions reminded me exactly of their
behavior at lower altitudes in winter and seemed to brand them
as aimless wanderers.

In 1905 the Purple Finch was one of the features of this
county. In the orchards and in the hemlocks they were to be
found still uttering their ringing song. We were, therefore,
looking forward to renewing their acquaintance, but they had
gone, and only a casual one or two were to be seen.

Goldfinches, however, were abundant everywhere, except in
the deep woods, and the}', like the Cedarbirds, impressed me
with being more abundant in this region than I had ever seen
them elsewhere. Chipping, Field and Song Sparrows were also
plentiful, and in the clearings the Towhee and Indigobird were
apparently increasing in numbers. It has only been in recent
years that these latter birds have been found in this region,^
but they are now firmly established. The huckleberry barrens,
where they are now frequently to be seen, are also the haunt of
the Chestnut-sided Warbler, while the Red-eyed Vireo frequents
the taller trees that are scattered here and there.

Where the barrens meet the hemlock forest we found the
Black and White Warblers. We were too late for their eggs, as
the two nests I discovered both held five young. One of these
was placed two feet up in a hole of a decaying stump. The
Scarlet Tanagers likewise reared their young on the edge of the
hemlocks, a nest being found on June 13th.

All through the town of Loanna and the surrounding coun-
try are found the Barn and Cliff Swallows in equal numbers.
The latter have several small colonies in the town, the largest
comprising about seventeen pairs. So far as I can learn, these
birds do not encroach upon each other's territory. The irregu-
larity of the Cliff Swallows in nesting particularly impressed
me, some having full-fledged young, while others were but lay-
ing the foundations of their nests. About the ponds the Tree
Swallow is also found, but they were by no means common.

However interesting is the country already mentioned, the
hemlock wood was our delight. One of the first bird? to be

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 23

noticed there was the Magnolia Warbler. Everywhere we heard
the sprightly song of the male far up in the hemlocks. Of all
the Warblers in this region, I should call this the most abund-
ant. The nests are loosely-made structures of coniferous twigs,
and from five feet to twenty feet above the ground. One taken
on June 11th held four fresh eggs. The parents are very fear-
less in the protection of their homes, flitting about with ex-
panded tails like the Redstart, and uttering a startled "chip."
From far up in the hemlocks we could hear the " que-e-e " of
the Olive-sided Flycatcher, and on August 20, 1905, I was
fortunate enough to come upon a family of these birds, parents
and three young. The latter, though fully able to fly, continu-
ally followed the old ones about the hemlocks with drooping
wings and expanded tails, frequently uttering their "que-e"
and begging for food. With the Olive-sided Flj'catcher, the
Golden-crowned Kinglet is found, but all search for their nests
was in vain. In a single clump of giant hemlocks two or three
pairs were located by the songs of the males. This is an ener-
getic eft'ort well described by Chapman, and the performer is
far more easily heard than seen. Tlie Kinglets seem to frequent
the very tops of the tallest trees, and in a whole morning spent
in watching them we did not see one at a closer range than fifty
feet. Under these difficulties, and with innumerable hordes of
bloodthirsty mosquitoes, it is small wonder that nests are rarely
found.

In comisany with the Kinglets the Blackburnian and Black-
throated Green Warblers are found, and rather to my surprise
we met with the Pine Warbler frequentlj', and their Chippy-like
song was a feature of some sections of the woods. Very often
was the insect-like "zee-zee-zee-zee" of the Black-throated
Blue Warbler heard, and Mr. Long found a beautiful little
nest on June 17th. The Black-throated Blue bj'no means con-
fines itself to any one kind of land, but was found everywhere
— in the swampy undergrowth, either in the high decidu-
ous trees, or far up in the hemlocks. Of course the Ovenbird
is found breeding commonly all through these woods, and their
habits are essentially the same as in the lower Delaware valley.
In the low laurel thickets along the streams the Canadian

24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Warbler literal!}' abounds, and its song is constantly heard.
This seems to nie to differ from most warbler songs, being more
energetic, after the manner of the Geothlypis group than like
the drowsy Dendroica nuisic.

With them occur the Redstarts and the Juncos. The latter
are particularly common, and breed in various situations, but
chiefly along the trails and pathways. All through the wood-
land, but especially near the streams, are the Chickadees, giv-
ing vent to their feelings in their pleasing, familiar whistle, and
with them occurred now and then a song that we could only
identify with the Tufted Titmouse. We could not trust our
ears when we first heard it, but closer observation proved that
we were correct. I am at a loss to account for the presence of
this Carolinian species in this Canadian environment, but sup-
pose it entered from the upper Delaware valley not many
miles awa}', and, as has already been said, present conditions
favor the advance of southern birds and the retreat of boreal
ones in the Pennsylvania forest area.

Four other Warblers besides those already mentioned were
seen by our party : the Yellow Warbler, abundant in orchards
and open willow thickets along the streams ; the Maryland Yel-
lowthroat in its usual haunts ; the Golden-winged Warbler,
evidently rare, as only one was seen, and the Yellow-breasted
Chat. The last is another southerner which probably reached
this section by the same route as the Tufted Titmouse. In the
same scrub-land where we noticed the Chat, the Brown Thrasher
and Catbird were common, especially the latter.

One species remains whicli we found frequently in the hem-
lock woods, the Solitary Vireo. Its song is really beautiful,
and justice has not been done to it. One nest was found in a
hemlock some five feet up. The female sat vcrj' close, but
would not let me touch her. The Solitary Vireo is found
especially common in the swampy sections of the forest, where
the song might be called a feature.

In the same locality the Winter Wren is seen, but is by no
means common. His cousin, however, the House Wren, was as
abundant as usual about the village, where also we found the
Warbling and Yellow-throated Vireos, both rare, and the Rose-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 25

breasted Grosbeak. The Grosbeak, however, is much more
abundant in the second growth near the hemlock forest, where
the rich song of the male was constantly in our ears. In one
tree we actually counted seven males in full song. This should
suffice to show their abundance.

The Robin and Bluebird were in their usual numbers, and in
the woodland the ^^'ood Thrush upheld the reputation of his
family, while overhead the White-bellied Nuthatch "yanked"
the grubs from the dead wood for a family of seven young
arranged over a surface of bark about two feet square.

The chief disappointment of the trips was the absence of the
Hermit and Wilson's Thrushes, which seems unaccountable.
I noted both rarely in 1905, but as I saw neither of them last
June I do not feel justified in giving them as breeders. Our
complete list of breeding birds numbered ninety-four species, all
positively identified, with the exception of the Raven.

The Concordville Robin and Grackle Roost

BY SAMUEL C. PALMER.

About four years ago a report was made at a meeting of the
Club that the destruction of birds liad been unusually great dur-
ing a heavy storm in August. Among other reports there was
one made by W. E. Hannum relating to the number of dead
Robins and Grackles in a neglected nurserj^ about one-half mile
northwest of Concordville station, Delaware Co., Penna. About
120 Robins and Grackles were found dead under the trees which
at that time were fit to be used as nursery stock. Since that
time the number of birds roosting there has been greatly in-
creased until to-day they nimiber several thousand.

The location of this roost is on a high prominence sloping
away to the north and south over rolling farm land for three or
four miles in each direction. Numerous woods, orchards, and
groves of trees are in sight, and there seems to be no scarcity of
good roosting-places about the vicinity.

The west branch of the Chester Creek forks near JIarkham
station about one mile distant, and one stream runs on the south
about half-a-mile away while the one on the north is nearer.

The trees making up the roosting-place are chestnut and
maple, chiefly the former. The maples form a double row of
compact trees on the east side of the clump. The clump itself
measures about 200 x 100 feet and the height not over twenty
feet and nearly uniform.

The former roost of these birds was a wood a quarter of a mile
to the southwest of this point. When a few years ago this wood
was trimmed up and the underbrush cut out the birds left and
apparently came to this neglected nursery. This old roost,
according to old residents, had been in existence at least twenty-
five years.

The days I selected to visit this roost, the 24th and 25th of

(26)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 27

August, proved to be wet and disagreeable. An east wind with
storm kept the sun bade and rain was not infrequent. How-
ever I succeeded in getting some detailed memoranda of their
arrival and departure.

My first glimpse of the roost was at 4.30 p. m. on the 24th,
and at that time there were no birds in sight. A walk beneath
the trees revealed no signs of feathers or dead birds to indicate
the presence of enemies. At five o'clock no birds had ap-
peared, and the first intimation that there would be any gather-
ing came twenty minutes later, when two flocks of Crackles,
numbering twenty and twenty-five birds, alighted in the tops of
some spruce trees in a yard close bj'. A few stragglers followed,
but in a few minutes all flew away together.

At 5.34 o'clock six Robins arrived, and at 5.50 o'clock two
Cowbirds, the vanguard, settled in the trees. A little later two
flocks of Crackles entered the roost. These did not as the first
settle on the neighboring trees, but wheeled and alighted
directly in the roost. Robins and Cowbirds continued to come
in small scattered flocks, but the main arrivals were Crackles.
The last of these noted arrived at 6.05 o'clock. Almost imme-
diately the Cowbirds began to gather ; the first flock of any con-
sequence arriving at 6.06 o'clock, and numbering about fifty.
Flocks of these birds continued to come until 6.30 o'clock,
when only a few stragglers were to be seen. The Robins were
now coming in increasing numbers from every direction, often
at considerable height, until immediately over the roost, and
then by a series of flight manoeuvres settling either directly in
the roost or on the trees and telephone wires close by. The
Robins could be seen coming in loose, scattered flocks of eight
to fifteen, or else singly, but never in compact flocks like the
Crackles and Cowbirds, which, except for a few stragglers, came
in flocks of 25 to 250.

On the next day the east wind was still blowing, the clouds
were hanging low, and there was more rain. At 5.00 a. m.
the Robins were chirping and beginning to leave the roost. A
few minutes later a flock of Warblers was heard flying toward
the south. I took my stand on the southwest corner, where I
had a good view of the roost, and attempted to count the birds

28 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

as they came out. I found that Robins were leaving at the rate
of about 100 every minute on my side alone, and an actual
count of one thousand was made. At 5.05 o'clock the Grackles
began to be disturbed. At 5.18 o'clock tlie first flock of Cow-
birds rose, about fifteen in number. By this time the Robins
had nearly all departed, and for the next ten minutes only Cow-
birds flew out, which they did at the rate of fifty everj' minute
on my side of the trees.

At 5.28 o'clock the first flock of Grackles, about twenty-five
in number, whirled about over the trees and settled again in the
roost. This was considered unusual, as they generally left at
once. I think the bad weather conditions were responsible for
this departure from the usual custom. The next minute, how-
ever, the whole flock of remaining birds, chiefly Grackles and
Cowbirds rose in a body, and after circling around doubtfully
for some minutes, flew away toward the east. The Cowbirds
left the flock soon after it rose and flew toward llie west. The
Robins seemed to go equall}' in all directions. At 5.30 o'clock
there were no birds left in the trees.

In summing up the situation several things seemed to be es-
tablished. Tlie Grackles came in early and settled, and were
followed immediately by the Cowbirds, which had apparently
been waiting for that very thing. The last to come were the
Robins. In the departure in the morning the rever,se was the
order, the Robins scattering first, followed by the Cowbirds,
and lastly the Grackles, which rose in a body from the east side
of the trees where they had collected. There was very little
noise during the arrival or departure, and one going by at night
would not be aware of the presence of the birds, though the
grove is not over twenty-five feet from the road.

It is evident that weather conditions influence the number of
birds present, especially the Grackles. On Monday morning the
number of birds was about the same except the Grackles, which
did not count more than 500. This is significant, as on the
evening before the rain fell in torrents about roosting-time.

The direction of arrival and departure of the birds was well
defined. The Grackles from the east, the Cowbirds from the
west, and the Robins equally in all directions.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 29

The number of birds which regularly roosted here was esti-
mated to be about 7500, of which 3000 were Crackles, 2500
Robins, and 2000 Cowbirds.

No Redwings were seen or heard, but a dead one was picked
up a few days before my visit.

So far as I could learn this record for twenty-four hours was
about the same throughout the season.

A June Trip to Pocono Lake, Monroe County,
Pennsylvania

BY JOHN D. CARTER

Most of the ornithological notes from the Pocono Lake region,
including those published in a previous issue of Cassinia, have
been made near the close of the nesting-season. An occasional
nest of Hermit Thrush and Junco, and a very interesting family
of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were reported, but it seemed prob-
able that a search made earlier in the season would yield more
complete results. With this end in view four members of the
D. V. 0. C, Wm. L. Baily, Wm. B. Evans, Witmer Stone and
the writer, accompanied by an interested friend, readied the
lake on the afternoon of the 15th of 6th month (June), 1906.

The character of the lake and the country surrounding it
have already been sufficiently described. On arriving at the
boat landing we were quite surprised to see instead of the usual
expanse of water only the narrow Tobyhanna winding its way
among a profusion of blackened stumps. The explanation of
this was that the owners of the lake had opened the dam-gates
and allowed most of the water to escape, in order to remove
rubbish from the shores. After photographing a Kingbird's
nest and eggs, and looking in vain for those of the Alder
Flycatcher, the party reached the cabin at the foot of the lake
before nightfall.

A bivouac under the silent stars sounds very romantic and
sometimes works very well, but we were thankful to have a
civilized roof over our heads, for before morning a cold mist be-
gan to drive across the lake, — a mild hint of what was in store
for us. According to agreement the writer, who slept on the
porch, wakened those inside to hear the boo-hoo hoo-hoo of a
Great Horned Owl, but their drowsy ears had difficultv in dis-

(30) ■

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 31

tinguishing the notes from the bellowings of a numerous tribe
of bullfrogs which lived near our shore of the lake.

Our cabin was located on a grassy slope which was dotted
witli beautifuliy-pointed spruces, standing singly and in small
clumps. The tops of these trees were the favorite resting-places
of Purple Finches and Cedarbirds. Later in the season flocks
of Red Crossbills resorted to them also, picking and twisting at
the green, sticky cones, but usually tarrying only a few minutes
at a visit. At the time of our stay the Purple Finches were in
full song, furnishing a most acceptable accompaniment to the
more distant Hermit Thrushes. Before we had been there
many hours one of the party discovered that the Finches were
carrying nesting materials to one of the upper branches of a
spruce. Three days later, at the time of our departure, this
nest was finished and contained one egg, while another nest
near by contained four eggs. Both of these nests were of rather
loose construction, placed upon horizontal limbs without any
pretense of being attached to their support.

One of the chief purposes of our trip was to settle the identity
of a certain small Thrush, of elusive habits, which lived in a
cold spruce swamp across the lake from our cabin. To this
problem many of our precious hours were devoted. Our theory
was that in looking for the chief objects others of less import-
ance nught turn up incidentally. This proved to be the case,
for our Thrush hunt led to the rediscovery of several interesting
birds previously reported from that locality, besides the nests
of Blue Jay and Maryland Yellowthroat with young. Magnolia
Warbler with eggs, and no end of Catbirds' nests placed in the
midst of the densest clumps of young spruces.

As for the Thrush itself we confirmed our impressions that it
was a difficult matter to see it satisfactorily. Early in the
morning and again toward evening it would mount to the top
of some tall tree, either living or dead, and sing beautifully.
To my ear the song bore no resemblance to that of the Wood
Thrush or Hermit, and was longer than that of the Veer\', as
well as clearer, more powerful and varied. Although no speci-
men was secured, by piecing together all the information avail-
able we now feel satisfied that this bird is the Olive-backed

32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Thrush. Its nest was not to be found although we searched
through rain and shine.

Perhaps our second ambition was to find the nest of the
White-throated Sparrow. The birds were always to be found
on a hillside which was covered with a rather dense but short
growth of huckleberries and other shrubby plants. On landing
from our boats near one edge of the promising territory, we
spread out so as to cover as much ground as possible. Before
we had reached the place which it was hoped would furnish the
treasure, a brown bird crept off a nest on the ground a few feet
in front of one of the party. The motion was noticed of course.
The bird kept quiet and hidden for a few seconds; then it came
into full view, chirping sharply in a voice which could be con-
fused only with that of the Swamp Sparrow. It was a White-
throat. The nest contained four beautiful eggs and one nest-
ling, naked except for a tuft or two of blackish down. It was
ascertained later that the eggs were quite fresh, so it has been
supposed that the nestling was a Cowbird. So far as known,
however, this bird has not been seen at Pocono Lake; but since
it is frequent at a locality only a few miles distant, the above
identification may be correct. In any case the presence of fresh
eggs and a nestling in the same nest is of interest. This appears
to be the first record of the nest of this bird for the State of
Pennsylvania.

Upon one of our tramps we found a small, swampy tract close
to the Tobyhanna, below the lake. The ground was covered
with deep, wet sphagnum, which spread its spongy carpet over
roots, stumps, and fallen trees. In this locality Nashville and
Black-and-W'hite Warblers were singing frequently. The pres-
ence of Veeries was also revealed by a very few of their ordi-
nary calls. As I had never found the nests of any of these
birds I decided to make a thorough examination of this small
swamp. Securing a long stick for parting the foliage, I started
at one side and worked slowly back and forth. A Catbird's
nest, with a very indignant owner, and two or three empty
nests of very definite construction, but uncertain identity,
seemed to be all that the place would yield, when, upon moving
the top of a two-foot-high hemlock, my eye caught the circular

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 3?

arrangement of materials which so often is the most conspicuous
feature of a nest. Looking more closely, I was delighted to
see the four blue eggs of a Veery. The birds were silent and
invisible, and remained so until our departure from the place.
Their action in this case, or rather the lack of action, probably
explains why the Veery's nest has the reputation of being a
hard one to find. The birds simply do not help in any way.
One prominent feature of our trijj has as yet scarcely been
mentioned. This was the weather. If such a complicated
thing could be indicated by one word, that word would be rain,
writ large. Rain we had morning, noon-time and night,
though not continuously, of all sizes, from mist to heavy down-
pours, varied by one brisk hail-storm, and sometimes accom-
panied by most impressive thunder. After the hail, we were
interested in revisiting the nests which we had found. Not one
had been injured. Although the gates were open, the lake soon
began to respond to the prodigious rainfall. While the water
was rising, we found the nest and four eggs of a Spotted Sand-
piper, placed between the temjiorary level of the lake, and
high-water mark. We watched with much solicitude to see
whether or not this housekeeping venture would be spoiled.
The evening before our departure there still seemed to be a pos-
sibility of escape, but the next morning, as we were homeward
bound, we found the eggs floating in about six inches of water.
They were of no further use to the parents, so I gathered them
up, and after a time placed them in cotton within a cracker-box,
and stuffed the whole into a coat pocket. Late that evening I
had the eggs spread upon a table at home, when I heard a
clicking sound, and was astonished to find that one of the eggs
was hatching ! But little progress was made before bed-time,
so a lamp was arranged in such a way as to furnish heat all
night. By next morning we had a little Sandpiper. We dried
him by means of a hot-water bag, and with many misgivings
began his raising and education. The great difficulty was the
supply and administering of food. The little fellow had no
notion of picking upi anything from the groimd. The only
motion which seemed like an attempt to secure food was an
upward wriggling of the head and neck, as if to meet the beak of

34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

the parent for the regurgitation process. (How young birds of
this type are really fed I do not know. ) Soft worms were tried,
but these had to be placed well within the throat by means of
forceps in order to be swallowed. Only once did a contented
twitter seein to indicate an appreciation of the efforts of his
foster-parents. Evidently conditions were not favorable, for on
the third day his troubles ended. Considering that the egg
floated in the cold lake water for probabl}' six or more hours,
and that it received practically no heat for twelve hours more,
the hatching of it at all seems quite remarkable.

Beside the nests already alluded to, the following may deserve
mention : Two or more of the Cedarbird, with eggs; two of the
Magnolia Warbler, one building, the other with young; one or
more of the Tree Swallow, with eggs; one of the Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker; two of the Junco; one of the Hermit Thrush, and
two of the Chestnut-sided Warbler. The young of the Black-
and- White Warbler and the Small-billed Water Thrush were
seen out of the nest.

The nests of the following were not revealed by the most care-
ful search which we were able to make during our short stay,
although we felt sure that they were or had been near at hand :
Olive-sided and Alder Flycatcher, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Nashville, Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green
Warblers, Olive-backed Thrush, and Prairie Horned Lark, be-
sides several more common kinds. Since some of these have
seldom if ever been found in Pennsylvania, there still remains
abundant incentive for us to try again.

On the whole, we vote that the trip was a success. The days
were full of interest, not to say excitement; the evenings beside
the fire were enlivened by the tuneful voice of the ocarina,
while the pouring of heavy rain on the roof at night served only
to remind us that we were warm, dry, well-fed and happy, and
were having a most enjoyable outing.

Winter Bird Life in tlie Pocono Mountains,
Pennsylvania

BY WILLIAM L. BAILY

My tliree short experiences in the Poconos in winter hardly
warrant more than a brief mention, but the observations that I
made have a direct bearing upon the food-supply and the effect
of deep snow on the life of the birds that may prove of interest.
Although the cold in this region is usually intense, and the
ground may be covered with deej) snow for weeks at a time, the
birds and mammals generally survive.

An old resident of the region, Warner by name, used to say
that nature would provide for the birds no matter how hard the
winter might be, and that when in the fall the buds were full
and many, and the catkins on the birch and alder long and fat,
it indicated a severe winter, and his neighbors were warned to
stop up the cracks and fill their bins with wood.

As an example of the truth of the old man's saying, when I
was there from February IS to 24, 1905, the buds on the rhodo-
dendron and laurel were remarkably full, the catkins were long
and fat, and the snow was from twenty-four to thirtj' inches on
a level everywhere, while some of the drifts were fifteen feet
high. It was impractical to cross the fields or enter the woods,
and my walking for two and a half days was confined almost
entirel}' to the roads opened by sleigh travel; hence the ground
I covered was rather limited.

No snow had fallen for about ten days, and the snow and cold
had combined to make a thin crust on the surface, not quite
strong enough to bear one's weight, which made traveling
across the country almost imi^ossible. The weeds that furnish
such ample food-supply for the Finch family were buried out
of sight, and thus the birds had to feed upon the buds and cat-

(35)

36 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

kins of the higher shrubs and trees, or upon food especially
provided by their kind-hearted human friends.

The Ruffed Grouse feeds, I am informed, on the apple buds,
which are numerous in the Poconos, and upon birch catkins,
aspen and ironwood, wild azalea, and sometimes sumac, and
occasionally upon laurel leaves, but not on rhododendron or
alder, and when there is no snow on the ground acorns and
chestnuts form a large portion of their food.

In spite, however, of the native food-supply and the hardy
character of the Grouse, they will venture close to the farm
house and pick up with especial relish the buckwheat and other
grain thrown out for them. They soon learn to know the
favored spot, and will come day after day, early in the morn-
ing, where with so little effort they can get a full meal.

One of the most interesting features of the trip was the animal
and bird tracks on the snow. Although we saw but one Ruffed
Grouse, there were hundreds of their tracks, besides the tracks
of smaller birds; rabbits, which crossed in every direction,
squirrel tracks along fences, on trees and across the woods;
common skunk, mink, and apparently the tracks of a wildcat.
It was most interesting to note by the impressions whether an
animal had been sitting, walking, running, or springing. A
Grouse had spread its wings and tail, leaving a perfect impres-
sion on the snow when it sprang into the air, and the wildcat
had been making express time, spreading sixteen feet at a leap
through an open field and across the road. The rabbit tracks
in one place practically covered the surface for a large area, as
if there had been a regular convention or camp-meeting.

The unfortunate Quail during this remarkably cold and snowy
winter were apparently the only birds that could not survive.
Their food-supply was practically buried and during December
and January they came fearlessly up to the farmhouse to be
fed, and the farmer or his wife faithfully spread buckwheat,
until during several severe storms early in February, shortly be-
fore my visit, they appeared no more. In the following
spring many frozen birds were found, whole coveys in several
instances being discovered huddled together under fences or
tangled brush. I was told that one farmer picked up twenty-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 37

eight. During the next spring and summer the voice of the
Bobwhite was silent, and not a bird was left in the region.

The Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, especially the former,
were very active, and four of them were flying back and forth
among the top branches of the oaks, and uttering that shrill
rattling note, well known in mating season.

The Snowflake was my greatest joy, three flocks of from five
to fifteen being encountered; all near houses or on the road.
The people are very fond of them, and the birds are regularly
fed by the natives. One flock of a dozen were seen near the
front porch of a house, eating buckwheat that had been thrown
out to them; and they exercised themselves by flying, much as
Bluebirds do, from the peak of the roof to the orchard trees
close by, and down to the buckwheat on the ground.

The Juncos, though found in abundance on my other trips
were almost absent, only three being seen. As they are accus-
tomed to migrating they know better how to protect themselves
than the Quail, and evidently had moved southward or to lower
altitudes. A resident who had noticed their absence said he
never before had known them to so completely desert the coun-
try at this season of the year. He had not seen one for several
weeks.

The Chickadees {Pariis atricapillus) were abundant, happy as
usual, and apparently in no way affected by the snow, and
found an unfailing supply of insect life under branches and half-
hidden in the crevices of the bark.

Four Song Sparrows in the low lands near the stream were
seen, one or two at a time, silently and persistently holding the
fort.

Horned Larks, a few in number, confined their feeding-ground
to roads, walking along the sleigh-tracks and hopping in and
out of the hoof-marks.

Crows, Blue Jays, a single Goldfinch, several White-breasted
Nuthatches, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet were also observed,
and in spite of nature's food-supply, it is apparent in these ex-
treme winters that the birds depend at least to some extent upon
the farmers for their existence. Besides the buckwheat for the
Snowflakes, Quail and Grouse, the man with whom we stopped

38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

hangs out on a tree near the house two or three meat bones,
which are a perfect feast for Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers
and Chickadees, and judging from the time they spent working
at these bones, it seemed their entire food was thus obtained.
At one time a Chickadee monopolized one bone, a Downy an-
other, and a Nuthatch sat on the fence close by for half an hour
waiting his turn. Every day the birds tugged at these bones,
and the supply was kept up as long as the cold weather lasted.
Many a farmer and his famil}', it was said, pay similar atten-
tion to the birds in winter.

On another visit to Mt. Pocono, November 26, 1903, there
had been considerable cold weather, and on this day the ther-
mometer was down to 6°, a stiff breeze blowing, and the ice on
the lake six inches thick. But on a birch tree over an open
pool, just below the falls, sat a Kingfisher, watching his chance
for innocent trout. On the following March 25th, before the
snow and ice had disappeared, there sat the Kingfisher on
almost the same branch as though he had been there all winter.

On a tree close to the house, I watched at close range a Nut-
hatch pick up a chestnut from the ground, carry it a few feet up
the trunk of a chestnut tree, deliberately jam it in behind a
projecting piece of bark and then hammer away at it mitil lie
had opened it, when little by little he devoured the contents -y
if it became loose he would pick it up and give it another jam.
Once when he dropped it, he walked all the way down the trunk
out onto the ground and back up the tree to repeat the opera-
tion. All the while I was standing within a few feet of him.

On November 24 and 25, 1906, there was no snow on the
ground, but there had been ten inches earlier in the month, and
almost zero weather. It was cold and windy, and to my sur-
prise a Ruby-crowned Kinglet hopped out on the edge of a hem-
lock but a few feet in front of me, showed me his crown, and
pounded his double chat.

Blue Jays were most numerous, more than I ever saw before
at Mt. Pocono, and they were seen eating chestnuts, cracking
them and devouring them on the ground.

As I walked past Wiscasset Pool, a Barred Owl, the first I
had seen since 1883, peered at me from a maple branch over-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 39

hanging the water, no doubt watching for a fish, for fifteen
minutes later on Minausin Lake, a half-mile further up stream,
I saw another one on a limb overhanging tlie water. As I
approached lie quickly vacated, and in a few moments had, with
the aid of the wind, disappeared away over the top of Deer
Mountains, getting away as though he never intended to return.
A couple of hours later, near the head of Spruce Run, a Great
Horned Owl flew out over my head from one of the large hem-
locks, which grow in this dark and beautiful glen. I had heard
one of these birds in August last not far from the same spot.

American Crossbills, Purple Finches and Field Sparrows, and
a great many Juncos were noted; but flocks of Pine Grosbeaks
attracted my attention most of all, and my short experience
with them alone, made the trip quite worth while. First a
single bird flew over my head, singing as he disappeared in the
wood. For the next liour or so I would hear them every few
minutes uttering a little note much like the Purple Finch but
not so loud. Occasionally they would sing, with a single loud
whistle followed by a short warble of the quality of a Purple
Finch. They flew very much like a Robin, and when I imi-
tated the song, three in drab plumage at once flew down to a
small leafless birch and sat within six feet of me right out in the
open. For several minutes they looked me over, uttering their
little " tut tut," as though quietly talking to one another; then,
exactly as the Purple Finches do, after a rather vigorous "tut
ing," they took wing and joined their companions among the
pitch-pines. We were told tliat the Pine Grosbeak is common
in winter, but like the Crossbill is erratic, and some years alto-
gether absent.

I also saw what I took to be a Goshawk and a Pigeon Hawk,
the latter I have seen a number of times in the fall and summer
in the same locality.

Since so few visits are made to this and similar mountain re-
gions in winter, it is probable that there is much to be learned
regarding the endurance of certain birds and their sources of
food, as well the effect of deep snow and failure of food-supply
upon migration. These notes are oflered as a suggestion of what
will repay investigation upon these lines.

Report of the Spring Migration of 1906

COMPILED BY WITHER STONE

The work of the "Migration Corps " who cooperate with the
Club in collecting data upon the arrival and departure of birds
in the Delaware Valley and elsewhere in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey cannot be too highly praised. It is doubtful if such an
accurate and comprehensive series of data has ever been collected
over such a limited area anywhere in America, and the ultimate
results of the work will prove of great scientific value. We can
only congratulate our observers and urge their continuance in
the work as well as the solicitation of aid from others competent
to keep the necessary records.* Schedules covering the 1906
migration were received from the following:

New Jersey.
Cape May, H. Walker Hand.
Downstown (near Newfield), W. W. Fair.
Yardville, Rachel E. Allison.
Trenton, C. C. and R. M. Abbott.
Bordentown, Minnie V. Flynn.
Beverly, J. Fletcher Street.
Burlington, Helen F. Carter.
Moorestown, Anna A. Mickle.
Moorestown, Wm. B. Evans and Dr. S. S. Haines.
Pensauken, C. J. Hunt.
Haddonfield, Mrs. E. TomHnson Gill.

Pennsylvania.
Kennett Square, Charles J. Pennock.
Concordville, Mrs. K. R. Styer.
Westtown, Edith Smedley, Emily T. Webster, etc.

* Applications for blank schedules and for information should be addressed
to Mr. Samuel C. Palmer, Swarthmore, Delaware Co., Pa., who superintend!
'his branch of the Club's work,

(40)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 41

Swarthmore, Samuel C. Palmer.
Swarthmore, George S. Roberts.
Swarthmore, N. W. Swayne.
Swarthmore, Jos. S. Webb.
Lansdowne, John D. Carter.
Lansdowne, Louisa M. Jacob.
Lansdowne, Aklrich J. Pennock.
Lansdowne, Anna D. White.
Lansdowne, Friends' School.
Lansdowne, W. R. White.

Lansdowne, J. Harold Austin and Ethel A. Shrigley.
Collingdale, Paul L. Lorrilliere.
Morton, Dr. J. F. Prendergast.
Media, Lydia G. Allen.
Media, Philip H. Moore.
Media, Alice Fussell.
Media, Ellen Fussell.
Media, Edith L. Palmer.
Ardmore, Wm. L. Baily.
Haverford, W. J. Serrill.
Haverford, M. Albert Linton.
Haverford, Thos. C. Desmond.
Haverford, R. A. Spaeth.
Wayne, A. C. Redfield.
Bryn Mawr, Miss Emily H. Thomas.
Wissahickon, John R. Pickering.
Olney, George S. Morris.
Oak Lane, Richard C. Harlow.
Frankford, Richard F. Miller.
Bristol, Thomas D. Keim.
Woodbourne, Edward Pickering, Jr.
George School, Students.
George School, Wm. E. Roberts.
George School, Jesse Packer.
Marietta, W. H. Buller.
Lopez, Otto Behr.

Summaries of observations on four prominent species show
the following results:

42

PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Chimney Swift.

April 8. Mediii.

April 11. Kennett Square.

April 12. Haverford and Rad-
nor.

April 14. Moorestown and Pen-
sauken.

April 15. Tacony.

April 17. Frankford.

April 18. Four stations.

April 19. Four stations.

April 20. Six stations.

April 21. Six stations.
Ovenhird.

April 28. Four stations.

April 29. Eleven stations.

April 30. Four stations.

May 1. Four stations.

May 2. Six stations.

Scarlet Tanager.

April

25.

Oak Lane.

May

1.

Five stations.

May

2.

One station.

May

3.

Eight stations.

May

4.

Two stations.

May

5.

Eight stations.

Wood Thrmh.

April 25. Frankford.

April 28. Four stations.

April 29. Eleven stations.

A])ril 30. Five stations.

May 1. Eight stations.

Making comparisons for the past four years on this plan, we
get the following interesting results; the dates in parentheses
indicating the arrival of the earliest straggler, the other dates
the time of bulk arrival.

Chimney Swift.

1903 (April 12), April 19-20.

1904 (April 15), April 24-25.

1905 (April 13), April 20-21.

1906 (April 8), April 18-21.

Ovenbii'd.

1903 (April 27), April 29-30.

1904 (April 22), April 30-
May 1.

1905 (April 25), April 29-30.

1906 (April 28), April 29-
May 2.

Scarlet Tanager.

1903 (April 25), May 6.

1904 (April 30), May 6.

1905 (April 21), May 3-7.

1906 (April 25), May 1-5.

Wood Thrush.

1903 (April 23), April 30-
May 2.

1904 (April 22), April 29-
May 1.

1905 (April 23), April 28-30.

1906 (April 25), April 28-

May 1.
The tables of spring arrivals follow.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAIi CLUB.

43

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DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

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Kingbird

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Phoebe

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Che wink

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Ovenbird

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Chat

Catbird

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Robin

Bluebird

I

Flicker

Whip-poor-will

Nightbawk.

Chimney Swift,

Hummiugbird

Kingbird

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Phoebe

Bobolink

Cowbird

Red-winged Blackbird

Baltimore Oriole

Purple Crackle ..

Chipping Sparrow

Cbewink

ludigobird

Scarlet Tanaper

Purple Martin

Barn Swallow

Red-eyed Vireo

Black and White Warbler

Chestnnt-sided Warbler

Ovenbird

MiirYlfliid Yellow-throat,

Chat

Catbird

Brown Thrasher

House Wren

Wood Thrush

Hermit Thrush

Robin

Bluebird

SL'IilNU MIGRATION. 19DG.
Eauliest dates or aihuval or thirty-two

3PEC1ES AT FIt'TEES STATI0K3 OliTSIDK THK PHIL-
ADELPHIA OinCLE.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 47

List of Other SjKcies Reported by Observers During 1906, and

Additional Notes. Winter Notes Relate to Winter of

1905-6. Localities are in Pennsylvania

Unless Otherwise Indicated.

Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps. Two seen at Beverly,
N. J., April 9 to 16 {Street). A pair off Petty's Island April
16 (Miller).

Herring Gull, Larus argentatus. Wintered on the coast and
on the Delaware. Last seen at Bridesburg, April 30 (Miller),
Bristol, March 4 (Keim).

Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis. Two seen at Bridesburg,
Ja"nuary 22 (Miller).

Black-headed Gull, Larus atri cilia. Arrived Cape May, N. J.,
April 20 (Hand).

Gannet, Sula bassana. Cape May, N. J., Feb. 25 (Hand).

Cormorant, Phalacrocorax dilophus. Cape May, N. J., April
10 (Hand).

American Merganser, Merganser americanus. X^'intered on
East Park Reservoir, reported at Bridesburg, Jan. 27 (Miller).
Cape May, N. J., April 4 (Hand). Three seen on Tacony
Creek near Oak Lane, Feb. 10, and one shot, Oct. 17, 1905
(Hnrlow).

Red-breasted ]\Ierganser, Merganser serrator. Bridesburg,
March 6 (Miller).

Hooded Merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus. Marietta, Feb. 24
(Bvller), Bridesburg, March 2 (Miller).

Mallard, Anas hoschas. One at Pensauken Creek, N. J.,
March 10 (Hunt).

Baldpate, Mareca americana. Marietta, Feb. 24 (Buller).

Blue-winged Teal, Querquedula discors. Richmond, about 200
flying northward, February 21 (Miller). One shot on Tacony
Creek, Sept. 25, 1905 (Harlow).

Wood Duck, Aix sponsa. Pensauken Creek, N. J., April 27
(Miller).

Goldeneye Duck, Glangula clangida. Twenty seen on the
Delaware at Bristol, February 18 (Keim), Wissinoming, March
27 (Miller).

48 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Bufflehead, Charitonetta albeola. Bridesburg, January 27
(MUler).

Ruddy Duck, Erismatura jamaicensis. One shot April 10,
Kennett Square (Pennock).

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis. Large flock passed over
Cape May, N. J., going north, Feb. 19 (Hand). Several flocks
passed over Zieglersville, Montgomery Co., Oct. 26, 1905. Last
seen at Oak Lane, Dec. 13, 1905 (Harloiv).

Brant, Branta hernida. Very abundant during winter, 1905-
06, at Beach Haven, N. J. (Harloiv), Bridesburg, Februar}- 25
(Miller).

American Bittern, Botaunis lentiginoms. Media, April 22
(Moore), Trenton, N. J., April 19 (Abbott), Holmesburg, April
25 (Miller).

Least Bittern, Ardetta exilis. Richmond, ^lay 2 (Miller).

Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias. Wintered on Pensauken
Creek, N. J. (Hunt), Tinicum, February 11 and April 19
(Carter), Moorestown, N. J., April 2 (Evans), Bristol, April 4
(Keim), Trenton, N. J., April 5 (Abbott), Haverford, April 26
(Spaeth), Wayne, April 29 (Redjield).

White Egret, Herodias egretta. Daily at Cape Maj', N. J.,
during Sept., 1905 (Hand).

Green Heron, Butorides virescens. Cape May, N. J., Nov. 11,
1905 (Hand).

Night Heron, Nycticorax n. naevius. Common at Zieglersville,
Montgomery Co., up to Nov. 1, 1905 (Harlow).

King Rail, Ballus elegans. One caught at Kennett Square,
April 14 (Pennock).

Clapper Rail, Ballus crepitans. Two nests with eggs, Ston&
Harbor, N. J., May 27 (Carter).

Virginia Rail, Rallus virginianus. Media, April 21 (E. Fus-
sell), Pensauken, N. J., May 20 (Harloio), Richmond, May 5
(Miller).

Florida Gallinule, Gallimda galeata. Richmond, May 13,
nest and 12 eggs. May 22 (Miller).

Coot, F'ulica americana. Richmond, May 7 (Miller).

Woodcock, Philohela minor. Three seen at Cape May, N. J.,
Feb. 28, and abundant from that date until March 21, seen

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 49

daily all over town, saw six in flight at one time. Two men
who were out feeding quail saw "upwards of two hundred " in
one afternoon. We have no record of such numbers at this
time, though they are plentiful during fall migration (Hand').
May 5, Winslow, N. J. (Street). Two on Pensauken Creek,
May 27 (Miller). One March 18 and five April 1, Downstown,
N. J. (Fair). Two near Tuckerton, March 17 (Stone and Rehn).
Haverford, April 1 (Serrill), Lopez, April 7 (Behr). Seen at
Oak Lane, August 7 and 14, 1905, and two November 4, 1905
(Harlow).

Wilson's Snipe, Galllnago ddicata. Woodbourne, April 11
(Pickering), Richmond, April 23 (Miller).

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Erennetes pusillus. Cape May, N. J.,
March 28, (Hand). Still numerous at Stone Harbor, N. J.,
May 27 (Carter), Pensauken, N. J., May 2 and 23, Richmond,
May 22 (Miller).

Sanderling, Calidris arenaria. Cape May, N. J., March 28
(Hand).

Greater Yellowlegs, Totanus melanolcucus. One shot at Oak
Lane, Oct. IS, 1905, and two Oct. 19 (Harlow).

Solitary Sandpiper, Helodromus solitarius. Last seen at Wayne,
May 12 (Redjield), Frankford, ISLay 22 (Miller).

Bartramian Sandpiper, Bartrainia longicauda. George School,
April 21, Moorestown, N. J., April 16 (Evans), Sandford,
April 13 (Miller).

Hudsonian Curlew, Numenius hudsonirus. Cape May, N. J.,
April 29 (Hand). Flock at Stone Harbor, N. J., May 27
(Carter).

Black-bellied Plover, Sqvatarola squatarola. Cape May,
N. J., April 29 (Hand). Flock at Stone Harbor, N. J., May
27 (Carter).

Killdeer Plover, O-zijechus voci/erus. Atlantic City, N. J.,
Feb. 22 (Morris).

Semipalmated Plover, Aegialitis semipnlmata. Pensauken
Creek, N. J., M.^y 13 (Miller). One at Stone Harbor, N. J.,
May 27 (Carter).

Turnstone, Arenaria interpres. Numerous at Stone Harbor,
N. J., May 27 (Carter).

50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Bobwhite, Colhms virgim'anm. Holmesbnrg, ]\Iay 25 (Miller),
all winter at Downstown, N. J., Init scarce (Fair).

Mourning Dove, Zenaidura marroura. Getting more plentiful,
saw seventeen at one time during spring at Downstown, N. J.
(Fair). All winter at Concordville (Styer), 01nej% February 25
(Morris). Two nests witb eggs, Pensauken, N. J. (Hunt).

Marsh Hawk, Cirats liu(honius. Wintered plentifully on the
Delaware Meadows, Tinicum (liarloio), Bridesburg, November
20 to March 8 (Miller). Seen at George School, April 21.

Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiier vclox. Reported in winter at
Bridesburg, Oak Lane and Tinicum.

Cooper's Hawk, Arn'piter coo-peri. Reported in winter at Oak
Lane, Tinicum, Media and Bridesburg. Nest with eggs near
Swarthmore, April 29 (Swayne).

Red-tailed Hawk, Bnteo horcalis. Winter resident at most
stations. Last seen at Oak Lane, April 1 (Harlow). A pair
nested on the Pennypack Creek above Foxchase in spring of
1905 (Harlow).

Red-shouldered Hawk, Bidco linealus. Pretty generally re-
ported in winter. Last seen at Oak Lane, April 8 (Harlow).

Broad-winged Hawk, Buteo j^hitijptn-us. Oak Lane several
times in September, 1905 (Harloiv), Holmesburg, May 17
(Miller). Nest with eggs at Swarthmore, April 22 (Swayne),
and at Kennett, May 20 (C. J. Pennock).

Bald Eagle, Haliieetus leucoccphalus. Lausdowne, April 8
(W. R. Mliile).

Rough-legged Hawk, Archihidco lagopus sanctijohannis.
Bridesburg, Jan. 19 and 27 (Miller). Very scarce at Tinicum
winter of 1905-6.

Sparrow Hawk, Falro .opnrveriiis. Generally resident.
Long-eared Owl, Asia wiUonianus. One shot at Oak Lane
Nov. 18, 1905, and at Dreshertown, Mont. Co., Jan. 15 (Har-
low). Jan. 17 two at Yardville, N. J., and remained all winter,
one seen as late as May 2G (AUinson). Nest and eggs, Kennett
Square, April 1 (C. J. Pennock).

Short-eared Owl, Asio accipilrinus. Several seen March 11 at
Kennett Square (Pemwrk). Wintered on meadows at Brides-
burg, November 20 to March 8, and one was shot at Harrow-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 51

gate as earh- as October 9 {Miller), ^^'intered at Tinicum, and
was heard calling on night of February 3 (Harlmv).

Saw-wliet Ow], Cnjptoglaiix acadicus. One captured at Oak
Lane, Oct. 2S, 1905.

Screech Owl, Megascops asio. Generally resident, had eggs at
Crescentville, April 10 (Miller).

Snowy Owl, Kydea nyclca. A pair seen at Cape May, N. J.,
and one of them captured November 26, 1905 (Hand). Two
shot at Richmond, November 20, 1905, two at JIagnolia, Cam-
den Co., N. J., and one at Tinicum, November, 1905 (Miller).

Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon. All winter on Peiisauken Creek,
N. J. (Hunt), and near Trenton, N. J. (Abbott), Moorestown,
N. J., February 11 (Evans).

Downy Woodpecker, Dryohaies pnbescens medianvs. Generally
resident. Had eggs at Haverford, May 6 (Desmond), and at
Pensauken, N. J., April 29 (Miller).

Hairy Woodpecker, Dryobntes villomis. Common in winter at
Oak Lane, one pair nested (Harlow), also reported in winter at
Frankford and Media, at George School, March 10, Beverly,
N. J., :Marcli 1. (Street), Haverford, April 27 and May 21.

Yellow-bellied Sa]isucker, Sjihyraj^icus rariiis. One at Mt.
Airy, Fhila., March 11, which was probably there all winter
(Spaeth). Wintered at Kennett Square (C. J. Pennock).

Red-headed Woodpecker, Mclanerpes erythrocephalus. Very
abundant about Oak Lane during 1905, several pairs nested
(Harhnc). Wintered at Wayne (Redficld) and Trenton
(Abbott). One seen in Logan Square, Fhila., during December,
1906 (Stone).

Flicker, Colnptes auralus luteus. Reported as wintering gener-
ally in small numbers at Cape May, N.J., Trenton, N.J., Swarth-
more, Haverford, Frankford, Olney, Oak Lane, Wayne and
\\'oodburne, and seen once during winter at ConcordviJle, Yard-
ville, N. J., Burlington, N. J. A single bird wintered at
Marietta.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Empidonax flaviventris. George
School, May 10 (Robert'i^, Haverford, May 4 (Desmond).

Olive-sided Flycatcher, A'uttallornis borealis. Arrived at
Lopez, June 3 (Behr).

52 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Horned Lark, Olocoris alpestris. Flock of twelve near Prince-
ton Junction, N. J., Feb. 15 (Allinson).

Blue Jaj', CyanocUta a-idata. Reported during the winter at
Haverford and sparinglj' at Oak Lane. Not seen at Frankford
until March 2; Downstown, March 19; George School, March 3;
Lansdowne, May 2. A pair were about Lansdowne after this
date regularly {A. J. Pennock).

Crow, Corvus hrachyrhynchos. Abundantly resident through-
out the Delaware Valley. Had eggs, Frankford, April 11
{Miller'), nest and 3'oung at Haverford, May 2 (Spaeth).

Fish Crow, Corvus osslfragus. Wintered sparingly at Oak
Lane, also at Tinicum and Frankford.

Bobolink, Dolkhomjx oryzivorus. Has become very scarce at
Lopez, saw only one this year {Behr). One at Bridosburg,
June 1, probably breeding near by (Miller). Male at ilorton,
June 12 but not seen later (Prendergast).

Cowbird, Molothrus atcr. Three males at Frankford, Dec. 14,
1905 (Miller), and one seen during Dec., 1905, at Yardville,
N. J. (Allinson).

Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus. One at Tinicum,
January 20 (Lorrilliere), and one at Moorestown, N. J., Febru-
ary 4 (Eeans).

Meadowlark, Sttaiiella magna. Reported as resident at
almost all stations near the Delaware river and at Kennett
Square, sparingly so at Woodbourne, George School and Haver-
ford. A few also wintered at Marietta.

Rusty Blackbird, Evphagus carolincnsis. Saw small flocks at
Tinicum tliroughout the winter until February 1 (Lorrilliere and
Harlmr). Two males at Ardniore all day April 29 (Baily).

Purple Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula. Several seen about Oak
Lane until Jan. 1, seen also at ]\Iedia on that date. A general
flight occurred with the warm wave of January- 23, and they
were reported from Media, January 22, Haddonfield, N. J.,
Kennett, George School and Media, January 23, and at Yard-
ville, N. J., and ^\'oodbourne, January 31, and then none till
the flight of February 21.

Pm-ple Finch, Carpodacus pvrpureus. Arrived at Lopez,
April 7 (Behr). Much scarcer than usual at Oak Lane (Harlow),

DELAWAEE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 53

Goldfinch, Astragalinus tristis. Resident throughout the Del-
au'are Valley and Southern New Jersey.

Snowflake, Passcrina nivalis. Two on the Dyke, November
20, and a flock of 15, Richmond, March 17 (Miller). Feb. 11
flock at Yardville, N. J. (Allinson).

Vesper Sparrow, Pocecctes graminciis. Nest and four eggs,
Pensauken, N. J., April 29 (Hunt).

Henslow's Sparrow, Arnmodravnts hensloim. Holmesburg,
April 20 (Miller).

White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albirolHs. Last seen at
Frankford, May 17 (Miller). Arrived at Media, Sept. 26, 1905
(Allen), last seen May 17 (Moore), Concordville, May 6 (Slyer),
Bristol, May 13 (Kehn), Lansdowne, May 20 (A. Pennock),
Haverford, May 18 (Spaeth), Oak Lane, IMay 20 (Harlow).

M'hite-crowned Sparrow, Zonotricltia leucophrys. Frankford,
May 14 (Millo-).

Tree Sparrow, Spizella montieola. Last seen at Haverford,
April 12 (Desmond), Wayne, April 10 (Redficld), Oak Lane,
April 10 (Harlow), Downstown, N. J., April 9 (Fair), Frank-
ford, April 18 (Miller).

Field Sparrow, Spizella piisilla. Nest and four eggs, Pen-
sauken, N. J. (Hunt), Several at Oak Lane, December 25, 1905
(Harloiv), and twelve at Tinicuin, Feb. 12.

Junco, Junco hyemalis. Last seen at Wayne, April 22 (Red-
field), Oak Lane, May 2 (Harlow), Downstown, N. J., April 15
(Fair), Burlington, N. J., April 20 (//. F. Carter), Frankford,
April 25 and Pensauken, N. J., April 29 (Miller).

Song Sparrow, Melospiza cinerea melodia. Generally resident.
Two nests, four and five eggs, April 29, Pensauken, N. J. (Hunt).

Swamp Sparrow, Melospiza (jeorgiana. Common all winter at
Tinicum (Harlow).

Fox Sparrow, Peisscrella iliaca. The great abundance of these
birds during late February and March was a feature of the
year's migration. Hundreds seen at Tuckerton, N. J., March
17 (Stone and Rehn). Last seen at Haverford, April 13 (Des-
mond), Wayne, April 14 (Redfield), Oak Lane, April 5
(Harlow).

Chewink, Pipilo eryihrophthalmus. One at Trenton, N. J., all

54 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

winter (Ahboll), seen at Tinicum, December 18, 1905, and
January 20 (Harlow). Nest and four eggs, Lansdowne, May
19 (Carter).

Cardinal, Cardinalis cardi-nalis. Reported in winter at Frank-
ford, Media, Haddonfield, Haveiford and Lansdowne, reached
George School, March 13. Had eggs at Torrcsdale, April 25,
nest with three eggs Haverford, May 3, nest with three eggs
Pensaiiken, N. J., April 22, hatched Ai>ril 29 (Hunt).

Rose-breasted Groi>beak, Zamclodia ludoviciana. Unusually
abundant migrant at Beverly, N. J. (Street).

Scarlet Tanager, Piramja, crythromelas. Nested near Ithan, Pa.

Cedarbird, Ampelis cedrorum. Abundant at Cape May, N. J.,
March 19 to 21. They were all over town feeding on the berries
of the honeysuckle on porches, fences, etc., and were very tame.
Counted 62 in one flock (Hand). Flock of eight all winter at
Haverford (Spaeth), and reported during the winter from Cape
May, Haddonfield, N. J., Oak Lane, Kennett Square and
Trenton, N. J.

Northern Shrike. Lanius horealis. Kennett Square, Febru-
ary 28 (Pennock), Ithan, Del. Co., Pa., February 18 (Redjleld).

White-eyed Vireo, Virco novcboracensis. Young three days
old, Torresdale, June 5 (Miller).

Philadelphia Yireo, Vireo pliiladelphicus. Media, May 16
(Moore) bird watched for some time and comi)ared with Chap-
man's Handbook in the field.

Black-and-White Warbler, Mnioiilta varia. Several pairs
nested at Clemcnton, N. J., one pair at Glenside, Pa. (Harloio).

Gold-winged Warbler, Hclmintliophila chr]jt:opta-a. Concord-
villc, May 6 (Slyer), Burlington, N. J., May 9 (Carter), Sandi-
ford, May 3 (Miller).

Nashville Warbler, Helminthophila ruhrirapilla. Wosttown,
April 13 and earlier, Trenton, N. J., May 11 (Abbott).

Myrtle Warbler, Dendroir.a eoronata. A flock Dec. 15, 1905,
at Burlington, N. J. (H. F. Carter). A pair at Media, January
28 (Fussell).

Bay-breasted Warbler, Dendroica caslanea. Moorestown,
N. J., May 10 (Mickle), Media, May IG (Moore), Lansdowne,
May 14 (A. Pennock), Haverford, May 14, unusually abundant

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 55

this spring {Linton), Oak Lane, Maj' 16 {Hnrhxv), Moorestown,
N. J., IMay 10 {Mlckle), Bryn Mawr, May 15 and 23 (T/wmas),
about a dozen. Westtown, May 13.

Ovenbiid, Seiuriis avrocajiUlus. Eggs at Frankford, Jlay 12,
and young left nest at Torresdale, June 5 {Miller).

Kentucky Warbler, OjMrornis Jnrmom. Nebt and five eggs at
Oak Lane, May 26 (Harlow).

Connecticut Warbler, Opororms agilis. One seen near Ard-
more, May 13, by Baily and Serrill. " I had several good
looks at it with binoculars at 25 feet. Could distinctly see the
white eye-ring. Watched it for fifteen minutes in good light"
iBaily).

IMourning Warbler, Geothlypis Philadelphia. May 30, one
male at Ardmore singing, "came to within ten feet of me"
{Buily), Trenton, N. J., May 20 (Abbott).

Hooded Warbler, Wilsonia milrata. Media, May 6 (Moore),
Haverford, May 3 (Spaeth and Linton), Lansdowne, April 30,
one singing (Carter). Three in full song May 20 at Clementon,
N. J. (Harlow), Weymouth, N. J., ]\Iay 7 (Street), George
School, May? (Roberts), Frankford, May 15 (Miller).

Wilson's Warbler, Wihonia pusilln. Haverford, May 13
(Serrill), Media, May 20 (Allen), May 13, Ardmore (Bailij),
Wayne, May 6-12 (Redfield).

Titlark, Anthus pensilvanicvs. About 100 over the fields at
Concordvillc for four successive days, May 4-7 (Styer).

Catbird, Galeoscoptes carolinensis. Eggs May 12 at Frankford
(Miller).

Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus. Reported as resi-
dent at Tinicum, IMedia, Lansdowne and l\Ioorestown, N. J.

Long-billed Marsh Wren, Tclmaiodytes palustris. Numerous
nests at Tinicum Island, June 2, only one with eggs (J. D.
Carter). Eggs at Richmond, May 22 (Miller).

Winter Wren, Olbiorchilus hianalis. Last seen at Media,
April 13 (Moore), Wayne, April 14 (Redfield), O^dc Lane, May
8 (Harlow). None seen about North Philadelphia, Frankford,
etc., after December (Miller).

Brown Creeper, Certhia f. amerirana. Last seen at Wayne,
April 6 (Redfield), Oak Lane, April 7 (Harlow), Burlington,

56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

N. J., April 22 (//. F. Carter), Bristol, April 8 {Keim), Frank-
forrl, April 25 {Miller).

^^■llite-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis. Generally resi-
dent, most plentiful in winter.

Chickadee, Pants atricdpillus. None seen during winter of
1905-6 at Lansdowne, very abundant the previous season {A.
D. White), none seen 1905-6 winter, at Haverford (Detiinond).
Rather scarce this winter, 1905-6, at Oak Lane {Harlow), also
at Downstown, N. J. (Fair), none till March 7 at Frankford
(Miller).

Tufted Titmouse, Bxalophus bicolor. Resident at Frankford,
Westtown, Tinicum, Media, Haverford and George School,
February 23. Nest with 7 eggs and one young, Oak Lane,
March 24 {Harloio),

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regidus satrapa. Last seen at
Haverford, April 29 {Spaeth). Media, April 8 {Alleii), Wayne,
April 13 {Recljicld), Oak Lane, April 24 {Harhnv), Frankford,
April 18 (Miller).

Hermit Thrush, Hylodchla g. pallasii. Princeton, N. J.,
Feb. 24 (M. S. Farr).

Bicknell's Thrush, Hylodchla a. bichnelli. Media, Jlay 7.
" Markings of the Gray-checked Thrush but the smallest Thrush
I ever saw" (E. Fussell).

Robin, Merida migratoria. A few all winter at Mt. Airy,
Phila., Trenton, N. J., Bordentown, N. J., and George School.
Other winter records: Tinicum, December 18, 1905, Yardville,
N. J., January IS, Concordville, January 19, Moorestown,
N. J., and Wayne, January 21, Frankford, January 22, and
Oak Lane, January 27. Had eggs at Frankford, April 28
(Miller).

Bluebird, Sialia sialis. Wintered 1905-6 at Mt. Airy, Phila.,
Haverford, Media, Wayne, Olne}', Kennett Square, George
School, and in New Jersey at Cape May, Bordentown, Yard-
ville, Trenton, but none this winter at Downstown. Great in-
crease at Cape May, March 4 (Hand). Had eggs at Frankford,
May 6 (Miller). Nest with pure white eggs, Swarthmore, May
3 6 (Swayne).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 57

City Ornithology

The records for the Friends' Western Burial Ground, Six-
teenth and Race Streets, Phihidelphia, as observed by Mary S.
Allen are as follows :

Autuvm Migration, 1905.

Flicker, October 2 and 3.
Downy Woodpecker, October 6.
Towhee, October 6.
Brown Thrasher, October 6.
Robin, last seen November 11.

Spring Migration, 1906.

Flicker, April 14.

Towhee, a pair April 30, May 3.

Song Sparrow, March 10.

White-throated Sparrow, May 2, 3 and 4.

Chipping Sparrow, May 3 to 5, S and 9.

Brown Thrasher, a pair April 30, May 1, 3 and 9.

Robin, arrived March 10 and remained all season.

Abstract of the Proceedings of the Delaware Valley
Ornithological Club for 1906.

January 4, 1006. Annual Meeting. Thirty-eight members
present. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted
as follows: President, Dr. Spencer Trotter; Vice-President, Wil-
liam A. Shryock; Secretary, Herbert L. Coggins; Treasurer,
Stewardson Brown.

Mr. Rehn outlined the distribution of the various species and
races of Thrashers, illustrating his remarks by a map. An ex-
hibition of lantern slides followed, and the Club then adjourned
to the annual collation.

January 18, 1906. Seventeen members present.

Dr. Trotter read a paper on "The Life of Charles Lucien
Bonaparte."

A Catbird {Galeoscoj)les carolinensis) obtained at Stone Harbor,
Dec. 31, 1905, by Dr. W. E. Hughes, was exhibited.

The abundance of Brant (Branta hernida) along the coast was
remarked upon, but it was generally conceded that the present
open winter had been attended by a scarcity of small birds.

February 1, 1906. Twenty-four members present.

Dr. Charles Jack and Mr. Arthur F. Hagar were elected
Associate members.

Mr. Stone, under the title of "A Review of the Year in
Ornithology," gave an outline of the past year's work in the
bird world, and also dwelt upon the more important lines for
future investigation, botli general and local. Mr. Coggins read
an article from a periodical entitled "Why Sea Birds are
White," which was followed by a discussion.

February 15, 1906. Sixteen members present.
Mr. C. J. Hunt read a paper entitled "The Pensauken Creek
and its Bird Life," based upon observations made during a

(58)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 59

number of visits to this attractive spot on the New Jersey side
of the Delaware, and illustrated the value of concentrated labors
in a limited area.

Under the title "A Few Parodies," John D. Carter gave
interesting representations of the songs and call-notes of a num-
ber of birds, and justly emphasized the value of the sense of
hearing in the identification of birds afield.

Mr. Harlow described the call of the Short-eared Owl (Asia
accipitrinus), which he had heard recently on the Tinicuni
meadows after dark. The note has not been correctly described
in any work on American Ornithology with which he was
familiar, though Dresser, in his "Birds of Europe," gives a
good representation of it.

March 1, 1906. Twenty-five members present.

Mr. Paul C. Brewer was elected an Associate member.

Wm. B. Evans read a paper entitled "The Birdman Afield,"
in which he spoke of the illusions experienced by those who
make field observations, and the great care that should be ex-
ercised in establishing records where there was the least possi-
bility of doubt.

Mr. Pennock reported that thirty or forty Robins {Morula
migratoria) had wintered at Kennett Square, Pa.

Mr. Morris recorded a Killdeer (Oxyechiis vociferns) that had
wintered at Atlantic City, N. J.

March 15, 1906. Twent}'-four members present.

Mr. Norman W. Swayne was elected an Associate Memljer.

Mr. Samuel N. Rhoads addressed the Club on "Florida's
Subtropical Avifauna," outlining a recent trip to the southern
part of the state, and dwelling upon the various birds peculiar
to the lower extremity of the peninsula.

Mr. Stewardson Brown described a trip to Bermuda under-
taken during the previous summer, in company with Dr. and
Mrs. Britton, of the New York Botanic Garden, and commented
upon the birds that he had observed.

April 5, 1906. Thirty-two members present.

Mr. Duncan McFarlane was elected an Associate Member.

•60 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Mr. Stone read a paper entitled "Some Light on Night
Migration," descriliing graphically a flight of migrants ohserved
on the evening of March 27, by the aid of the illumination from
a burning lumber-yard in West Philadelphia (see Auk, 1906,
p. 249).

Dr. W. E. Hughes exhibited a number of lantern slides illus-
trating the countr}- traversed by him during two hunting-trips
to Chihuahua, Mexico, which he had previously described before
the Club.

April 19. 1906. Twenty members present.

Dr. Spencer Trotter read a paper entitled "The Relationship
of the Passeres," which with the aid of charts gave a compre-
hensive presentation of the current classification of the Passerine
group. An extended discussion followed.

May S, 1906. Twenty-two members present.

Dr. Henry Tucker was elected an Associate Member and Mr.
R. P. Sharpies a Corresponding Member.

A paper on "Some Delaware Herons," prepared by Mr.
Pennock, was read by Jlr. Stone. A rookery of Great Blue
Herons (Ardea herodias) located near Wilmington was described,
which contained about twent3'-five occupied nests.

Mr. Hunt read a paper entitled "The Shifting of a Crow
Roost" (see Auk, 1906, p. 429).

Mr. Morris described a trip to Eaglesmere, Pa., from which
he had just returned. He was impressed by the great differ-
ence in the advancement of vegetation in the mountains and
about Philadelphia as compared with the nearly uniform pro-
gress of nest-building at the two localities.

May 17, 1906. Twenty-one members present.

Mr. Stone reviewed the work and theories of Hugo De Vries
and their bearing upon the evolution of animal species. He con-
sidered that " Mutation " if it played any part in evolution veaa
not a factor so far as vertebrate animals were concerned. A
general discussion followed.

Mr. Fowler described a recent trip to the lower Susquehanna
in the vicinity of York Furnace, Pa.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 61

October ^, 1906. Twenty-five members present.

Mr. Harlow read a paper on the breeding of the Bobolink in
the vicinity of Croydon, Bucks Co., Pa. He had observed
about eight pairs of the birds within a radius of about a mile,
and saw some of them practically everj' day from June 24 to
July 26. Diligent search failed to discover the exact breeding-
places, but on June 29 he found several young birds which were
obviously only a few days out of the nest.

Mr. Stone reported several hundred birds killed on the tower
of the City Hall on the night of August 28. While great nnui-
bers had been picked up before he visited the building he saw
and identified the following: Redstart 47, Maryland Yellow-
throat 38, Black-and White Warbler 27, Reedbird 26, Ovenbird
16, Small-billed Water Thrush 8, Kingbird 2, Yellow-breasted
Chat 2, and one each of the following: Kighthawk, Alder Fly-
catcher, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, Purple Finch, Red-
ej'ed Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Parula
Warbler, and Veery. The platform on the tower where the
lights are located, some 500 feet from the ground, was white
with the excreta of the birds that had rested there, and as one
looked over the railing dead birds could be seen lodged on the
cornices and ledges that project from the tower at various points
below. JIany live birds had also found their waj- into the
uppermost story of the City Hall which has open passage-ways
leading to the main roof.

The death of Mrs. Edward Robins on July 6, 1906, was an-
nounced and the following minute adopted:

The Delaware Valley Ornithological Club has heard with deep
regret of the death of Mrs. Edward Robins and desires to record
its sense of the loss that the cause of bird-protection has suffered
in the death of so earnest a worker, and also to express its ap-
preciation of ^Irs. Robins' labors in furthering popular interest
in birds and bird study.

October 18, 1906. Twenty-two members present.
Mr. Palmer read a paper on a "Robin and Crackle Roost
near Concordville, Pa." (See antea, p. 26).

The following amendments to the By-Laws were adopted:

62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Add to Art. IV, Sect. 2.

Not more than eight Associate members shall be elected in
any one year, the actual number to be chosen at any meeting
being determined by a majority vote of the Active members
present. Elections for members shall be held at the first regu-
lar meeting of November and March.

Alter Art. IV, Sect. 3, to read:

A unanimous vote of the Active members present and voting
shall be necessary for the election of an Active, Corresponding
or Honorary IMember, and a two-thirds vote for the election of
an Associate member or officer.

Koreviber 1, 1006. Twenty-seven members present.

Messrs. George C. Roberts and Ernest A. Butler were elected
Associate members.

Mr. Carter described the finding of a nest of Henslow's Spar-
row {Avimodmmus henshwi), near Marlton, N. J., on May 21,
190G. It was located deep in a tussock of grass, in a small
cranberry bog, and contained at this date four eggs.

Mr. DeHavcn spoke of a Mockingbird (Mhmts polygloUos),
which had been observed by him during the past summer at
Beach Haven, N. J.

November 15, 1906. Sixteen members present.

Dr. Wej-gandt summarized his observations upon the birds he
had found roosting upon the groimd. In winter he had found
the following on the ground after dark, obviously settled for the
night: Woodcock, Quail, Snowy Owl, !Meadowlark, White-
throated Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Junco, Song Sparrow, Fox
Sparrow and Robin. In summer he had recorded the Ruffed
Grouse, Killdeer, Whip-poor-will, Night Hawk and Vesper
Sparrow. He was inclined to consider ground roosting far
more prevalent than generally supposed.

Mr. Keim, who had just arrived from Washington, gave an
account of the Congress of the American Ornithologists' Union.

Mr. Brown reported a Snowy Owl at Avalon, N. J., Novem-
ber 8.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 63

December 6, 1906. Twenty-nine members present.

Mr. ytone read a paper received from Mr. Richard F. Miller,
giving an account of the occurrence of the Lapland Longspur
(Calcarhts lapponicus) in the Delaware Valley. The first
record was a specimen obtained in a market in Philadelphia
by John Cassin in January, 1849. The next specimen that
we know of was secured by C. D. Wood from a flock of Snow
Buntings at League Island, Phila., about 1864. In 1895 four
were observed: two at Princeton, N. J., February 13, one of
which was shot, one shot by Isaac Ruff on the New Jersey
shore of the Delaware opposite Tinicum, February 21, and
another obtained near Salem, N. J., by Henry Warrington,
December 28. The last was associated with Horned Larks,
the first two with Snow Buntings. Mr. Miller recorded a
seventh specimen seen in a field at Harrowgate, Phila., No-
vember 22, 1904. "It was alone, but evidently had come
south with a flock of Titlarks that were nearby. Unlike the
wild Titlarks, it allowed me to approach within twenty-five
feet and less as it stalked silently about, furtively watching me
before taking wing. When flushed it flew only a few rods,
alighting in the short grass and running restlessly about like a
Robin. It was thus flushed several times, as I wished to be
fully convinced of its identity before shooting it. At the dis-
charge of the gun it arose with a startled cry, and with rapidly
vibrating wings it mounted higher and higher in the air, occa-
sionally uttering a one-syllable alarm-cry, till it was soon a
mere speck in the sk}', and then disappeared from sight."

Mr. Miller was of the opinion that if flocks of Horned Larks
were carefully examined more Longspurs might come to light,
as their presence among these birds would be much lees readily
detected than among the Snow Buntings.

Mr. Harlow exhibited a Migrant Shrike (Lanhis ludovidanus
migrans) obtained at Oak Lane, Phila., December 1, 1906, and
recorded a Saw-whet Owl {Cryptoglaux acadicus) taken in Pike
County, October 30. Mr. Spaeth reported two of the latter
species shot at Cape May Point, N. J., November 80. Mr.
Hunt mentioned a winter record for the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

64 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

December 20, 1906. Twenty-two members present.

Messrs. Baily, Carter, Evans and Stone described a trip ta
Pocono Lalce talien during June of the present year (see antea,
p. 30).

Mr. Stone reported a Red-throated Loon ( Gavia lumme) picked
up on a street in the city early in the morning (Dec. 20) and
brought ahve to the Museum. It seemed quite uninjured, but
wlien placed on the floor could not raise itself in flight nor could
it stand upright or lift its breast from the ground. It twisted
its head from side to side, sometimes crooking it in the middle
after the manner of a goose, and struck viciously' at anj' one who
approached within reach. A Goshawk {Astur atricapillus) was
exhibited, obtained Nov. 15 at Cape May Point, N. J. ; two others
were rei^orted from near Tuckerton, N. J., the middle of the
same month, and taxidermists reported large numbers all over
the country.

Bibliography for igo6

I. Ornithological Papers by I\Iembers of the Delaware Valley
Ornithological Club.

Fowler, H. W. Birds Observed in the Florida Keys. Auk,

October, 1906, pp. 396-400.
Hales, Henuy. Swallow Notes from Northern New Jersey.

Bird Lore, Sept. -Oct., 1906, p. 173.
Harlow, R. C. Solitary Sandpiper Breeding in Pennsj'lvania.

Oolngist, March, 1906, p. 39. Cf. also May number,

p. 76.
H.\RLOW, R. C. Some Summer Residents (Montgomery Co.,

Pa.). Oologlst, April, 1906, p. 59.
Haelow, R. C. More About the Solitary Sandpiper. Oohght,

July, 1906, p. 105.
Harlow, R. C. Late Nesting of the Hummingbird. Oologlst,

October, 1906, p. 156.
Hunt, C. J. Two Days with the Beach Birds and Botanists.

Wlhon Bulletin, September, 1906, p. 97.
Hunt, C. J. [Red squirrel eating Robin's egg and Yellow

Warbler nesting near Cardinal.] Wilson Bulletin, De-
cember, 1906, J). 133.
Hunt, C. J. Change of Location of a Crow Roost. Auk,

October, 1906, pp. 429-431.
Miller, W. D. W. List of Birds Collected in Southern Sinaloa,

Mexico, by J. H. Batty during 1903-1904. Bull. Amer.

Mm. Nat. Hist, XXI, pp. 339-369.
Miller, W. D. W. List of Birds Collected in Northwestern

Durango, Mexico, by J. H. Battj' during 1903. Bull.

Awcr. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXII, pp. 161-183.
Miller, W. D. W. Migrant Shrike in Spring. Bird Lore,

Sept. -Oct., 1906, p. 173.
Miller, W. D. W. Black Terns near New York City. Bird

Lore, Nov. -Dec, 1906, p. 211.
Miller, W. D. W. Notes from Plainfield, N. J. Bird Loro

July-August, 1906, p. 138
(65)

66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Miller, W. D. W. Occurrence of Progne chalybea in Texas^

Auk, April, 190G, p. 226.
Miller, W. D. W. Breeding of the Savanna Sparrow in

Southern New Jerse^y. ^w^-, July, 1906, p. 340.
Sharples, R. p. The Downy Woodpecker [digging a winter

shelter]. Auk, January, 1906, !>. 101.
Sharples, R. P. The Amount of Science in Oology. Bird

Lore, Sept. -Oct., 1906, p. 169.
Stone, Wither. Some Light on Night Migration. Auk, July,

1906, pp. 249-252.
Stone, Wither. A Bibliography and Nomenclator of the

Ornithological Works of John James Audubon. Auk,

July, 1906, pp. 298-312.
Stone, Wither. Some Unpublished Letters of Alexander Wil-
son and John Abbot. Auk, October, 1906, pp. 361-368.
Stone, Wither. Nothing New Under the Sun. Bird Lore,

July-August, 1906, p. 136.
Stone, AVither. Reviews of Minor Bird Journals. Bird Lore,

May-June, 1906, p. 107.
Stone, Wither. [Solitary Sandpiper, etc., breeding in Penn.].

Onlogist, July, 1906, p. 103.
Stone, Wither. The Percentage of Error in Bird Migration

Records. Condor, July-August, 1906, pp. 88-90.
Stone, Wither. The Relative Merits of the "Elimination"

and First Species' Method in Fixing the Types of Genera

with Special Reference to Ornithology. Science, Vol.

XXIV, No. 618, pp. 560-565.
Weygandt, C. Birds of the University Campus [W. Phila.].

Alumni Register, June, 1906, pp. 419-429.
Twelve Christmas Bird Censuses, from Penna. and N. J. Bird

Lore, Jan.-Feb., 1906, pp. 20-21.

II. Additional Papers Relating to the Birds of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and Delaware.

Anon. Pigeons reported in Pennsylvania [Clearfield Co.].

Forest and Stream, Vol. LXVII, No. 11, p. 413.
Burns, F. L. Red-throated Loon at Grassy Sound, N. J.

Wilson Bulletin, March, 1906, p. 25.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 67

Darlington, E. J. Haliseetus leucocephalus [breeding in

N. J.]. Oologist, July, 1906, p. 106.
Lyman, Emily R. My Experience with a Blue-headed Vireo.

Bird Lore, July-August, 1906, pp. 123-124.
Miller, R. F. Long-billed Marsh Wren in Philadelphia Co.,

Penn. Oologist, August, 1906, pp. 117-124, and Sep-
tember, pp. 133-135. (Cf. Nov. number, p. 172, Errata.}
Miller, R. F. Snowy Owl South of 40th Degree N. Latitude

[in Pa. and N. J.]. Oologist, August, 1906, p. 124.
Miller, R. F. Holboell's Grebe in Philadelphia, Penn.

Oologist, February, 1906, p. 23.
Miller, R. F. Unusual Nesting Site of Zenaidura macro ura.

Oologist, March, 1906, p. 37.
Miller, R. F. Few Notes About a Common Bird, etc. [dates

of many nests]. Oologist, March, 1906, p. 39. {Q'.

June number, p. 91.)
Putnam, X. \Y. A Pennsylvania Relic Ground [Pigeon Roosts

in Crawford Co.] Forest and Stream, Vol. LXVII, No.

12, p. 450.
Putnam, X. W. The Silent Fisherman [Blue Heron] . Forest

and Stream, Vol. LXVI, No. 14,. p. 542.
Simpson, R. B. [Northern birds in] Warren Co., Penn.

Oologist, September, 1906, p. 135.

Bird Club Notes

Our half-tone of Bartram is from Welcli's engraving of the
portrait by Charles Wilson Peale, while that of the house is
'roni an original pencil sketch by George Spencer Morris.

* * *

The Club held sixteen meetings during the year, with an
average attendance of twenty-four, fortj- members being present
at one or more meetings.

* * *

Mrs. Edward Robins, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Audubon
Society and President of the Spencer F. Baird Ornithological
Club, died at Chelsea, N. J., on July 2, 1906.

Mrs. Robins' earnest work for the protection of birds and
inimals as well as her efforti< to promote the study of orni-
thology in Philadelphia and its vicinity are well known to the
members of the Club, and her place will be difficult to fill.

As Miss Julia Stockton Hopkins her early life was spent on
her father's estate at Torresdale on the Delaware river above
Philadelphia. Here she developed her great love for "birds
and nature, and with the aid of Audubon's work became
familiar with all the commoner birds of the neighborhood.
After her marriage to Edward Robins, the well-known author,
she continued her ornithological studies and published a num-
ber of excellent articles on the habits of our wild birds, mainly
in the "West Chester Village Record" and the "Observer."
With the revival of the Audubon Society movement in 1896 she
organized the Pennsylvania Society and was indefatigable in ad-
vancing its work. She was also a member of the Bird Protec-
tion Committee of the A. O. U. for several years, and after
joining the Union maintained an active correspondence with
many ornithologists in different parts of the country. As the
friend of everyone interested in birds her loss will be widely felt.

(68)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. G9

La Rue K. Holmes, a promising j'oung ornithologist of Sum-
mit, N. J., and for some years past a Corresponding Member of
he Club, died at the home of his parents on May 10, 1906.
He was born December 2, 1883, and was always deeply inter-
ested in the study of nature. He was a painstaking and reliable
observer, and was soon looked upon as an authority on the
ornitholog}' of his vicinitj'. He generously furnished any data
that he could contribute toward such work as the Club from
time to time carried on relative to migration and geographic
distribution, and prepared for the 1904 Cassini.\ an admirable
paper on the Short-billed Marsh Wren.

Mr. Holmes had recently' been appointed an Assistant Curator
in the American Museum of Natural History, and his career
was full of premise.

* * *

Through an oversight the notice of the death of Prof. Thomas
G.Gentr}', which occurred at his home in Philadelphia, March 12,
1905, was omitted from the last Cassinia. Prof. Gentry was
born in Philadelphia, February 28, 1843, and had a long and
important career as teacher in the public schools of the cit}',
being at the time of his death a supervising principal. He was
always a student of nature and a collector of specimens and
curiosities. For some years his interest centered upon ornithol-
ogy, and he published three works upon this subject, the
"Life Histories of the Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania," 2 vols.,
187(5 and 1877; "The House Sparrow at Home and Abroad,"
1878, and "Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States,"
1880-82.

* * *

The Club was represented at the twenty-fourth Congress of
the A. O. U. in Washington, D. C, by Messrs. Baily, Pennock,
Rhoads, Keim and Stone, while Messrs. Miller and Todd, of
the correspondents; were present.

Mr. Baily exhibited a number of excellent slides of birds
from life, and Mr. Rhoads presented an interesting jjaper on
" Delaware Valley Wild Fowl — Past and Present."

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS

Delaware Valley Ornithological Club.

1907.

WILLIAM A. SIIRYOCK, President.

SAMUEL C. PALMER, Vice-President.

HERBERT L. COGGINS, Secretary, 923 Arch St., Pliila.

STEWARDSON BROWN, Treasurer, 20 E. Penn St., Gerniantown.

ACTIVE MEMBERS.

William L. Baily, ArJraore, Pa .... Founder.

Stewaudson Baow.N, 20 E. Penn St., Germaiitown, Pliila *18yi

JoH.M D. Caktek, Lansdowne, Delaware Co., Pa 1900

Herbert L. CoGmN.s, 5025 McKean Ave., Gcrmantown, Phila 1897

I. NoiiRLS De Haven, Ardraore, Pa 1891

AuTiiOK C. Emlen, Awbury, Germantovvn, Pa 1897

William B. Evans, Moorestown, N. J 1S98

Henry W. Fowler, Holraesburg, Phila 1894

William E. Hughes, M. D., 3945 Chestnut St., W. Phila 1891

Chreswell J. Hunt, 225 N. Fifty-third St., W. Phila 1902

George Spencer Monuis, Olney, Phila Founder.

Samuel C. Palmer, Swarthmore, Pa 1899

Charles J. Pennock, Kennett Square, Pa 1895

James A. G. Rehn, 1918 N. Twenty-first St., Phila 1899

Samuel N. Rhoads, Haddonfield, N. J Founder.

* Date indicates year of election to Club.

"(70)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 71

William A. Shryock, 209 S. Sixth St., Phila. 1891

WiTMEn Stone, Academy Nat. Sciences, Pbila . Founder.

Spencer Trotter, M. D., Swarthmore College, Delaware Co., Pa. . Founder.
Samuel Wright, Conshohoclien, Pa 1892

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS.

.1. Harold Austin, Lansdowne, Delaware Co., Pa 1903

Paul C. Brewer, 261 W. Rittenhouse St., Germantown 190(3

Ernest A. Butler, 3417 N. 19th St., Phil.i 1906

Charles W. BuviNGER, 911 N. Si.xteenth St., Phila 1900

John E. Chamberlin, 201 West End Trust Building, Phila 1904

Stirling W. Cole, 116 N. Si.xth St., Camden, N. J 1904

Francis R. Cope, Jr., Awbury, Germantown, Phila 1895

William J. Cresson, Swarthmore, Delaware Co., Pa 1899

Frank A. Eaton, Lansdowne, Pa 1904

Ernest M. Evans, Awbury, Germantown, Phila 1899

(Jeorge Forstthe, West Chester (Route 4), Chester Co., Pa. . . ... 1891

Alfred Morton Githens, 1337 Pine St., Pliila 1895

Bartram W. Griffiths, 4024 Green St., W. Phila 1902

Ret. John H. Hackeneerg, 6135 McCallura St., Germantown, Phila. . . 1903

Arthur F. Hagar, 626 Westview Ave., Germantown, Phila 1906

Samuel S. Haines, M. D., Mill St. & Central Ave., Moorestown, N. J. . . 1901

Richard C. Harlow, Edge Hill, Pa 1904

David E. Harrower, Swarthmore, Pa 1905

Kenneth Howie, 48 Sedgewicli Ave., Germantown, Phila 1904

Charles Jack, M. D.. Media, Pa 1906

William Johns, 5415 Master St., Pliila 1905

William W. Justice, Jr., Clapier St. & Wissahickon Ave., Germantown,

Phila 1893

Thomas D. Keim, 3409 N. Twentieth St., Phila 1902

Raymond Kester, 1514 Chestnut St., Phila 1892

Nathan Kite, Moylan, Delaware Co., Pa 1898

M. Albert Linton, Haverford College, Pa. . 1905

Joseph B. Lodge, 3340 N. Sixteenth St., Phila 1900

Paul L. Lorrilliere, Collingdale, Del. Co., Pa 1904

David McCadden, 4204 Powelton Ave., W. Phila 1892

Duncan McFarlane, 1805 Chestnut St., PhiLa 1906

Richard C. McMurtrie, 152 Carpenter St., Germantown, Phila 1904

F. Guv Meyers, 1110 S. Forty-seventh St., W. Phila 1S96

Wayne B. Morrell, 5521 Jefferson St., Phila 1905

Elmer Onderdonk, 4221 Parrish St., W. Phila 1903

Frederick N. Owen, 1812 Green St., Phila 1902

Clark J. Peck, 138 Chester Pike, Darby, Pa 1904

72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

James F. PiiENnEncAST, M. D., 3833 Spring Garden St., W. Pliila. . . . 1809-

Charles J. Rhoads, Hryn Mawr, Pa 18110

Gedrge C. P.OBERTS, Box mii, Sharon Hill, Pa 190G

William E. Robeiits, George School, Bucks Co., Pa 1901

Anthony W. RoBi.Nsox, 400 Chestnut St , Phila 1808

William B. Scheuivg, 3024 W. York St., I'liila. 1803.

C. Few Seiss, 1338 Siiring Garden St., Phihi 1802

Euwaud A. Sellikz, 1317 N. Nincteenlli St., Pbila. . . 1002

William J.Seuuill, Havorlord. Pa ISOl

Waltku G. Sibley. eG2G McCallum St., Germantown, Phila 19U0

L. I. Smith, Jr., 3908 Chestnut St., W. Phila 1001

Walter Gordon Smith, 58T0 Dre.vel Road, W. Pbila 1808

Reynold A. Spaeth, Haverford College, Pa 1901

JuiiN H Steele, -1010 Spiuce St., W. Pbila., Phila lflo:t

J. Fletcher Street, Beverly, N. J 191.3

Norman W. Swayne, Swartbmore College, I'a lOOG

Joseph W. Taium, 5220 Parkside Ave., W. I'hila 1892

William H. Tiiottek, Cbeslnut Hill, Phila 1899

Henky Ticker, .M. D., 119 S. Twentieth St., Phila., Pa lOOi;

Charles A. Voelker, Aldan, Delaware Co., Pa Founder.

Paul Vossbehg, 5222 Parkside Ave., Pbila. - 1905

Charles S. Welles, Elwyn, Delaware Co., Pa 1000

Cornelius Weyc.andt, Ph. D., Wissabickon Ave., below Frank St, Ger-
mantown, Phila 1891

A. L. Wheeler. Bryn ilawr, Pa 1005

Albert L. Whitakeu, Cedar Grove, Frankford, Pbila 1896

James L. Whitaker, Cedar Grove, Frankford, Phila 1004

Walter R. White, Lansdowne, Delaware Co. "a 1003

Edward W. Woolman, 44 N. Thirty-eighth Si., W. Pbila 1902

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.

Charles H. Baker, Verona, Alleghany Co., Pa 1000

Thomas J. Beans, Moorestown, N. J _ 1805

Herman Behr, Jennings, Md 1807

Otto Bkmk. Lopez. Sullivan Co., Pa 1897

W. 11. BiiLLER, Marietta, Lancaster Co., Pa 18.05

Thomas C. Des.mosd, Cambridge, Mass. 1005

Lieut. Frank B. Eastman, U. S. A., Presidio, San Francisco. Cal. . . . 1898

Marcus S. Fakr, Princeton, N. J looi

Harry L. Graham. Redbmds, Cal 1S07

Allen H. Grosh, York, York Co., Pa 1000

Henry Hales, Ridgewood, N. J 1895

H. Walkeii Hand, 1002 Washington St., Cape May, N.J 1000

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 73

Wm. E. Hannom, Lynn, Mass lUOl

Thomas H. Jackson, West Chester, Pa . . 1895

J. Wauren Jacoi!S, Wayne; burg, Greene Co., Pa 1895

.-VuGUST Koch, Williamsport, Pa 1895

Samuel B. Ladd, West Chester, Pa 1895

Waldron De W. Millek, Plainfield, N. -J 1900

Howard Y. Pennell, M. D., Downingtown, l>a 1894

A. H. Phillips, Princeton, N. J . 1895

M. W. Raub, M. D., Lancaster, Pa 1895

H. Justin Roudy, State Normal School, Millersville, Lane. Co., I'a. . . . 1895

CiiAS. H. RofiERS, 39 Univ. Place, Princeton, N. J 1905

RouERT P. SuAiiPLES, West Chester, Pa 190G

FiiEOERiCK SoREXSEN, Chalnievsgarten, Guthenbiirg, Sweden 1900

Frederick W. Ptack, Plainfield, N. J 1905

Hugh E. Stoxe, CoatesviUe, Pa. . 1895

H. A. Scrfack, Harrisburg, Pa 190O

0. F. Sylvester, Princeton, N. J 1901

W. E. Clyde Todd, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg, Pa 1895

Henry Warrington, San Francisco, Cal 189G

Asa p. Way, Bridgeton, N. J 1902

William H. Werner, Atlantic City, N. J 1901

William L. Whitaker, Mitchell, Ind 1803

J. Jay Wisler, Columbia, Pa 1904

Robert T. Young, State University, N. Dakota - 1892

DECEASED MEMBERS.

John Farnum Brown, Active member May 13, 1894

Walter D. Bush, Corresponding member August 11, 1904

John W. Detwiller, M. D., Corresponding member . . . September 2(i, 1898

LaRde K. Holmes, Corresponding member May 10, 1906

JosiAH HooPES, Corresponding member January IG, 1904

Gilbert H. Moore, Associate member May 28, 1899

William Patterson, Corresponding member August 27, 1900

Kdwin Sheppakd, Associate member April 7, 1904

William W. Smith. Associate member . . July .S, 1892

Samuel W. Woodhouse, M. D., Honorary nicniber .... October 23, 1904

INDEX TO SPECIES.

Every mention of a bird, either by common or technical name, except in the
migration tables, is indexed under the current technical name of the species.

Accipitcr coopcri, 19. 50

velox, 19, 50
-Vctitis macularia, 18, 33
Aegialitis senii|ialmata, 49
.\gelaius phoeniceus, 21, 52
Aix sponsa, 47

Ammodramus henslowii, 53, 62
Ampelis cedrorum, 20, 31, 34. 54
Anas boschas. 47
Anthus pensilvanicus, 55
Antroslomus vociferus, 20, tl2
Archibuteo lag. saucti-jobannis, 50
Ardea berodias, 18, 48, 60
Ardetta exilis, 48
Arenaria interpres, 49
Asio aceipitrinus, 50, 59

wilsonianus, 50
Astragalinus tristis, 37, 53
.Vstur atricapillus, 39, 64

Hajolopbus bicolor, 24, 56
Hiirtramia longicauda, 49
Ronasa umbellus, 19, 36, 62
liotaurus lentiginosus, 48
Hranta beruicla, 48, 58
canadensis, 48
Bilbo virginianus. 19, 30, 39
Ruteo borealis, 19, 50

lineatus, 19, 50

platypterus, 19, 50
iiutorides virescens, 18, 48

Calcarius lapponicus. 63

Calidris arenaria, 49

Cardinalis cardinalis. 54

(Jarpodacus purpureus; 22, 31, 39,52, 61

Ceopbloens pileatus, 19

Oerthia (am. americana, 55

Ceryle alcyon, 38, 51

t'h;ptura pelagica, 20

Cliaritonetta albeola, 48

('hordeiles virginianus, 20, 61, 62

Circus hudsonius. 50

Clangula clangula, 47
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, 19
Colaptes auratus hiteus, 20, 51, 57
Colinus virginianus, 36, 50, 62
Compsothlypis araer. usnese, 61
Contopus virens, 20
Corvus bracbyrhynchos, 37, 52

corax principalis, 21

ossifragus, 52
Cryptoglaux acadicus, 51
Cyanocitta cristata, 21, 31, 37, 38,
Cyanospiza cyanea, 22

52

Dendroica aestiva, 24, 61

blackburniae, 23
castanea, 54
ccerulescens, 23, 34
coronate, 54
maculosa, 23, 31, 34
pensylvanica, 22, 34, 61
virens, 23, 34
Dolichonyx oryzivorus, 52, 61
Dryobates pubescens medianus, 19. 37,
38, 51, 57
villosus, 19, 37, 51

Empidonax flaviventris, 51

minimus, 20

traiUii alnorum, 34. 61
Ereunetes pusillus, 49
Erismatura jamaicensis, 48
Euphagus carolinus, 52

Falco columbarius, 39

sparverius, 50
Fulica americana, 48

Galeoscoptes carolinensis, 24. 31. 55, 58
Gallinago delicata, 49
Gallinula, galeata, 48
Gavia lumme, 64
Geotblypis Philadelphia, 55
trichas, 24, 31, 61

(75)

76

INDEX TO SPECIES.

Hali.Teetvis leucoceplialus, 18, 50
HelmintUopliila clirysoptera, 24. 54

rubricapilla. 18, 24,54
Helodromus solitarius, 18, 49
Hcrodias egretta, 48
Hirundo erjthrogastra, 22
Hj'locichla aliciae bicknelli, 5U

fuscescens, 25, .■i2, :^3, 61
guttata pallasii, 25, 31, 34,

56
mustelinus, 25
ust. swainsonii, 31, 34

Icteria virens, 24, 61
Icterus galbula, 21, 61
spurius, 61

Junco hjemalis, 24, 37, 53, 62

Lanius borealis, 54

Uidovicianus migrans, 63
Larus argentitus, 47

atricilla, 47

delawarensis, 47
Lophodytes cucuUatus, 47
Loxia curvirostra amer., 21, 31, 39

Mareca americana, 47
Megascops asio, 19, 51
Melanerpes erytlirocephalus, 51
Melospiza cinen-a luelodia, 22, 37, 53,

- 57, 62

georgiana, 53
Merganser americanus, 47

serrator, 47
Merulamigratoria, 25, 26, 56, 57, 59, 62
Minius polyglottos, 62
Mniotilta varia, 22, 32, 34, 54, 61
Molothrus ater, 21, 27, 32, 52
Myiarclius crinitus, 20

Numenius liudsonicus, 49
Nuttallornis borealis, 23, 34, 52
Nyctea nyctea, 51, 62
Nycticorax nyct. naevius, 18, 48

Olbiorcbilus hiemalis, 24, 55
Oporornis agilis, 55

forniosa, 55
Otocoris alpestris, 37, 52, 63
a. praticola, 20, 34
Oxyechus vociferus, 49, 59, 62

Pandion hal. carolinensis, 18
Parus atricapillus, 24, 37, 38. 56
Passercuius sandw. savanna, 21
Passerella iliaca, 53, 62

Passerina nivalis, 37, 53
Petrochelidoii lunif'rons. 22
Plialacrocora.x dilopbus. 47
Philubcla minor, IS, 48, 62
Pinicola enuncleator leucura. 39
Pipilo erytliroplithidnius, 22, 53, 5T
Piranga ery ihroniclas, 22, 54
Podiiyinbus i)odiceps, 47
Pooecetes gramineus, 20, 53, 62

Querqnedula discors, 47
Quiscalus quiscubi, 21, 26, 52

Rallus crepitans, 48

elegans, 48

virginianus, 48
Regulus calendula. 38, 64

satrapa, 23, 34, 37, 56

Sayornis fuscus, 20

Seiurus aurocapillns, 23, 55,61

motacilla, 19

noveboraceiisis, 19, 34, 61
Setophaga niticilla, 24, 61
Sialla sialis, 25, 56
Sitta carolinensis, 25, 37, 56
Spliyrapicus varius, 20, 34, 51
Spizella nionticola, 53, 62

pusilla, 22, 39, 53

socialis. 22. 57
Squatarola squatarola, 49
Sturnella magna, 20, 21, 52, 62
Sula bassana, 4 7
Syrnium variuni, 19, 38

Telmatodytes palustris, 55
Tbryotliorus ludovicianus, 55
Totanus nielanoleucu.^, 49
To.xostonia r«runi, 24, 57
Trocbilus cohibris, 20
Tyrannus tyrannus, 20, 61

Vireo flavifrons, 24
gilvus, 24
noveboraccnsis, 54
olivaceus, 22, 61
philarielpbia, 54
solitarius, 10, 24

Wilsonia canadensis, 24
mitrata, 55
pusilla, 55

Zamelodia hidoviciana, 25. 54
Zenaidura nuu-roura, 19, 50
Zonotricliia albicollis, 32, 53, 57. 63
leucoplirys, 53

IS8UCD MARCH, 1«D«

CASSINI.,/i

An Ami'-i /oled to the Ornithology of

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

CONTENTS 1907.

l> [portraii)

Son

T-.-,

•. ' , :.■ ;

Mian River Cc

RLBS J. Pi:

.11^.. i--.iiry {ttoo plates)

wc^irpT r I

;n the Spring Migration of 1907

,-, 1

■ :h1 Club ,■

Si

007

87

„.!(

PUBLICATIONS OF THE D. V. O. C.

The Birds ol Eostem Pennsylvania end New Jersey, 1^\

^■tinr, ;ip. 176 with two maps and portrait ■

Wilson C"!'"^ Dnll:)!- aiwl a-balf

Abstract of Proceedings, i

lied annr m^^

)ir. >cec(linKS of tip

Address Delaware Valley Ornithological Club,

Academy of Natural Sciences,

Loean Square, Philadelphia.

Publication ODmrnittce

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CASSINIA

PROCEEDINGS OF THE DELAWARE
VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB

No. XI. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1907.

Adolphus L. Heermann, M.D.

BY WITMER STONE

Of the various naturalists who served on the Pacific Railroad
surveys, the name of Heermann is probably better known to us
than any other. This is not so much from the extent of his
publications or from the number of new species that he de-
scribed, as from the fact that several familiar birds of our west-
ern coast have been named after him; for example, Larus heer-
manni and Melospiza cinerea heermanni.

The practice of naming species of animals and plants after
persons has often been decried, but the fact that it perpetuates
the memory of collectors and students whose lives no biographer
has taken the trouble to chronicle, seems ample justification.
Adolphus L. Heermann was one of these: a field ornitholo-
gist of the first rank during the forties and fifties to whose re-
searches our science owes not a little; yet of his life we have no
record.

From estimates of two who knew him, I infer that he was
born about 1818, probably in South Carolina. But on April
29, 1845, when elected a member of the Philadelphia Academy,
he was spoken of as a resident of that city, and always returned

£ PROCEEDINGS OP THE

thither from his expeditions. In 1846 he was studying medicine
in Baltimore, and probably graduated the following year.

Of Dr. Heermann"s first expedition to the west, I have been
able to gain but little information. He says incidentally in one
of his papers that he made a journey to the Rocky Mountains in
1843, and Mr. H. E. Dresser, the British ornithologist who
knew Heerniann during the last few years of Ids life, writes me
that he understood him to say that he first crossed the Hocky
Mountains with Fremont. The latter's second expedition
occurred in 1843, but I find no mention of Heermann's name
among the members of the party.

In March and April, 1848, Dr. Heermann accompanied John
Krider, the well-known gunsmith of Philadelphia, on an expedi-
tion to Florida. They stopped at Charleston, where they did
some collecting, and passed on to Key West. At this point, and
at Charlotte Harbor, they seem to have done most of their work.
The latter spot in those days, to quote Heermann, "almost
swarmed with Herons, Cormorants, Snake Birds, Spoonbills and
Pelicans * * * while on the .sandbars various species of Terns
were to be found in abundance, and at a distance, and not to be
approached easily, I have frequentl}' seen flocks of Flamingoes
dredging perseveringly for shell-fishes, or standing in groups,
looking almost like files of soldiers in red uniforms."

In 1849 Dr. Heermann made his first trip to California,
where he remained until 1852. In a letter from Cassin to
Baird, dated August 28th, he wrote with much enthusiasm :
" Heermann has arrived from California with a collection of
about 1200 bird skins. I have not seen them all, but expect to
to-morrow. I have a portion of them brought in his trunk,
among which one — a Hummingbird, T. alexnndri Boucard, is
new to our fauna; a Wren, T. mexicanus, and an undescribed
Finch; also a squirrel, which Le Conte says is new; also the
greatest kind of a lot of nests and eggs." The Finch was Am-
modravms roslralns, shortly afterwards described by Cassin from
Heermann's specimens.

Doling his stay in California Heermann spent most of his
time at Sacramento, but also explored the American and Cala-
verus rivers, and made trips to San Francisco, San Diego, and

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. .i

the Coronados and Farallone Islands, as well as one to Guay-
mas, Sonera.

Hcerniann described his collection upon his return to Phila-
delphia in a paper in the Journal of the Academy, II, pp. 259-
272 (Jan., 1853), entitled "Notes on the Birds of California,
observed During a Residence of Three Years in that Country."
His water birds did not arrive promptly, and the paper went to
press without waiting for them, so that only a few notes relating
to the new species were ever published. These appeared in a
subsequent paper in the Proceedings and in some of Cassin's
papers.

As he mentions birds observed at Mazatlan it seems evident
that he traveled to California by the isthmus route, though
there is no definite statement to that effect.

Upon the organization of the Pacific Railroad survey parties
Dr. Heermann obtained the appointment of surgeon and natur-
alist to Lieut. Williamson's party, whicli was to explore southern
California with the object of finding available passes through
the mountains by which the routes along the 32d and 35th par-
allels might reach the coast.

They embarked at New York May 20, T858, on the steamer
Illinois bound for Aspinwall, and reached San Francisco June
20th. After nearly a month spent at Benicia they started south
on July 10th and reached Tejon August 21st and Yuma in De-
cember, finally returning to San Diego December 20th. Lieut.
J. G. Parke, who was Williamson's assistant, was then sent
east by way of Yuma, the Pima and Maricopa villages, Copper
Mines and Dona Ana to El Paso and thence to San Antonio and
Washington. Dr. Heermann was attached to this survey, and
upon his return to Philadelphia prepared two reports covering
the birds collected on the two explorations. These, however,
were not published until 1859, appearing in Volume X of the
Pacific Railroad Survey.

In 1855-6 Lieut. Parke made another survey from Yuma to
El Paso, but Heermann was not attached to this expedition.
He, however, went to San Antonio for the winter of 1854-5,
and was there also during the winter of 1855-6 and collected
quite a number of birds, as he states in letters to John Krider
which I have had the privilege of reading.

4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

I have no record of Dr. Heermann from this date until 1862
when Dr. Edward J. Nolan, librarian of the Philadelphia
Academy, tells me that he remembers him among those who
frequented the Academy when he as a young man first became
connected with the institution. Dr. Heermann was then suSer-
ing from locomotor ataxia which seriously crippled him. His
time at the Academy was spent in making small colored draw-
ings of birds copied from works in the library, which he arranged
at the back of the trays of eggs in his cabinet. He was labor-
iously trying to match each color with a cake of paint in his
box, and was astonished and delighted when Dr. Nolan ven-
tured to show him that any desired shade could be obtained by
a judicious mixing of a few primary colors. Soon after he re-
moved to Texas where at some time or other he and his brother
had obtained property. He never returned to Philadelphia.

It was at this time that Mr. Dresser made his acquaintance,
and I quote from the letter which he kindly wrote me under
date of March 28, 1906, when I asked him for any information
he might possess relative to Dr. Heermann :

" When I arrived at San Antonio on the 16th of September,
1863, I was unaware that Dr. Heermann lived there, but Col.
Dickinson (2d Texas Cavalry) with whom I was, told me about
him, and I at once looked him up. I found him a strong,
broad, sturdy man of about fifty (perhaps a year or so older),
but I never asked his exact age. His hair and beard were
tinged with gray, and he must have been a very strong man,
but was then rather lame, and stumbled now and then, and it
afterwards proved that his lameness was locomotor ataxia. He
and a younger brother had some house property in San Antonio
and a tolerably large rancho on the Rio Medina, a ride outside
San Antonio. One of the houses in San Antonio was let as a
sort of private hotel, and the next house which they also owned
was a bungalow consisting of three or four rooms, which
A. L. Heermann reserved for himself and lived there, get-
ting his food and attendance from the adjoining house. During
the whole time I was in Texas my headquarters were San An-
tonio, and after a time I arranged with A. L. Heermann to take
one of the rooms in his bungalow, and lived with him when in

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 5

the town. This I did at the request of his brother, who thought
it would be well if some white man were there to look after him,
80 that he should not be neglected, and I for my part was glad
to be there, so that we could work together at ornithology.
Besides I had two thoroughbred horses, which were well trained
and used to firing, for I always fired from the saddle when out
shooting, so I could and did take Heermann out with ine, and
being quite sound from the waist upwards, he was all right
when once in the saddle. Heermann had a small collection of
birds in his rooms at San Antonio, and he and I collected to-
gether, and I kept my birds there also.

" Heermann's lameness increased quickly, and during the
latter part of my stay in Texas it was so bad that he could
scarcely walk far, and stumbled terribly, so at last to avoid a
fall we used, when he rode with me, to strap his legs to the
saddle. I never dared to take Heermann far out, or where there
was any chance of danger, and he generally went out only when
I was on a collecting trip within a dozen miles of the town.
When I could get away we would go out to the rancho and col-
lect there for a day or two. Heermann never married, and told
me he never had any idea of ' committing matrimony.'

" I left San Antonio in August, 1864, and returned to Europe.
Later I had a letter from Dr. Heermann's brother stating that
during his absence from the house the doctor would go out alone,
taking his gun to obtain some specimens of birds, and was found
one day, dead, having evidently stumbled and fallen, and his
gun going off had killed him." This was on September 2, 1865.

Dr. Heermann was one of those pioneers to whom we owe a
great deal in the development of our knowledge of western birds.
A man who was willing to put up with all kinds of hardship
and danger with no other reward than the discovery of new
birds or additions to our knowledge of others. He also pos-
sessed the ability not only to prepare his specimens well but to
preserve them during the exigencies of travel and bring them
safely home.

It is plain to see through all his writings that his main in-
terest was in nests and eggs, and in one of his Pacific Railroad
reports the term " Oology " occurs possibly for the first time in

b PROCEEDINGS OF THE

the literature of North American birds. His collection and the
little pictures already alluded to, as well as his manuscript
notes, were left with his old friend John Krider when he went
to Texas and have since disnppeared, though the eggs no doubt
were incorporated in the Krider collection, now the property of
Dr. Wm. E. Hughes.

In the winter of 1852-3 Heermann prepared a complete cata-
logue of the Oological collection of the Academy which was
published in the Proceedings in March, 1853.

Cassin always spoke in the highest terms of Heermann. In
October, 1852, he desired to accompany the Japan expedition
and Cassin said, "I will further his views in any way in my
power; a better man cannot be had. . . . He is an able col-
lector and it might be of great service to the expedition that he
can speak French volubly — as well as he can English — especially
if the expedition has much to do with the Russian fleets or
authorities." However, as has already been stated, Heermann
accompanied Williamson's California party and not the Japan
expedition.

While an able writer, as his reports and several articles in
Cassin's "Birds of California and Texas" testify, Heermann
seems to have been primarily an explorer and field naturalist,
and as Cassin tells us, "he thought the writing of reports a
bore." There are, however, always plenty of men to do this
part of the work, and in the early days especially the men who
were absolutely essential to the advancement of faunal zoology
were the hardy, persevering, field naturalists of which class
A. L. Heermann was a type.

Some Birds of Brown's Mills, N. J.

BY CORNELIUS WEYGANDT

Old years brought back bj' killdeer calls; swallows that dared
our northern March; the ripening of a friendship for Phie-
warblers — these are the ornithological experiences that stand
out in memory as I look back upon our week at Brown's Mills-
iu-the-Pines, March 27-April 3, 1907. Brown's Mills lie just
within the pine barrens that cover New Jersey, southeastward
of a line drawn from Sandy Hook to Salem. The Rancocas
Creek, dammed here, spreads out into a little forked lake, from
which two considerable branches extend eastward through low-
treed sand wastes and cedar and cranberry swamps. The ab-
sence of bird life in these barrens, though it was migration time,
was more striking than the presence of any birds. Follow the
narrow trails back into them in any direction, at any time of
day, you would see little life even along the streams. Above you
Turkey Buzzards were always circling, but what they found to
feed on, where the few piners that lived hereabouts could barely
scratch a living, is hard to tell. Save for the low sough of the
wind in the pines that scarcely ever ceased, the buzz of the Pine
Warblers' song, first from this tree, then from that, and the con-
stant shrilling of the Snowbirds from bush and ground, there
was generally in these early spring dayg no more sound of life
than sight of it in this monotonous region. Here and there
Pusilla's* little song, clear and lonely, was piped from the scrub-
oak, indicating how much more applicable here would be his
New England name of Bush Sparrow than our Field Sparrow
of the Middle States. Robins would be seen going over on any
day's walk or drive, and sometimes a Crow; several times
Flickers would loop across from some pine-stub, dead and
charred, to a distant neighbor; we would pass a few families of

* Spizella pusilla.

(7)

» PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Chickadees, never more than four in number, and we would
flush an occasional Blue Jay. Two Kinglets — the Golden-crown
— were come upon one day on our way home from White's Bog
through pines rather higher than most in the neighborhood, and
once two little Brown Creepers turned up with the Chickadees
that were always about the pond. These eleven varieties were
all we saw in the barrens — unless you may count the Black
Ducks of the pond — and all these but the Kinglets and the
Creepers were found also in the cleared land westward, and,
with the exception of the Pine Warblers, were plentiful there.

Three miles westward from Brown's Mills you arc in as tine
land as may be found in all Burlington County, the banner
farming district of New Jersey. Here birds were much plentier
than in the barrens, and in drives and walks to Pemberton and
Lewistown and Pointville we found Bluebirds about everj-
orchard, Meadow Larks in every great flat field. Song Sparrows
by every road-side and stream-side and fence-row, Crackles in
every group of spruces and pines about the farm-houses, many
of which were great structures of old red brick or old white
clapboards. Redwings were less plenty, but they were tuning
up, as yet but hoarsely, from many bottoms. Robins were,
curiously, not so abundant as in the cleared land about Brown's
Mills; nor were the Vesper Sparrows. Perhaps the flocks of
these latter two varieties were halting here, in this warm oasis
of farm land in the pines, before going further north.

The Robins and Vesper Sparrows were particularly in evi-
dence on Sunday, March 31st. Toward noon we walked up the
Pemberton road. There had been no sun all morning, and even
now cold, gray clouds walled all the skies; yet there was a glare
over the white-sandy fields, the steely-dyked ponds and even
the solid-green pines, an unaccountable weird-gray glare. It
was a sky that foreboded snow, yet the day was not cold. A
wild-flying bird drove eccentrically northward in curved zig-
zags. Its crying was strangely familiar, but for a moment I
could not identify it. A ragged piner boy came to the rescue.
Playing before a dilapidated shack by the roadside, which
leaned westward like the blown trees of a seabeach, he saw my
perplexity and cried, " That's a Killdeer, Mister." That cry-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. y

ing had brought back a country outing in Chester County a
quarter-century back. Now I knew why, for the Killdeers were
always whechng and crying about those upper reaches of Pick-
ering Creek. In train of these memories came others of delight-
ful wanderings in later years, and always in unfamiliar fields,
since my Wissahiekon Hills have not in my time been Killdeer
country. The bird's wild crying and wilder flight, the weird-
gray glare, the thoughts of long ago, combined to move me
strangely, so that I am sure I shall not soon forget that scene —
the straight road of yellow gravel, past the dyked pond and low
houses by the roadside, the white fields with their neat snake-
fences, the dark horizon of pines. I noticed an apple tree by
the door of the forlorn shack, to wonder even if its blooming in
May would lend the place a suggestion of home. And yet a
boy bred here harbored keen interest in birds and their ways,
for he knew the White-bellied Swallows, of which five were fly-
ing over the dyke opposite, and that they nested in boxes, and
that other swallows nested in barns, and still others in chimneys.
All the way down this road to the pond we had passed little
bunches of Robins and scattered Vesper Sparrows. One bunch
of the Robins had dropped down into a tree to rest on its
branches like Cedarbirds close together, but they belied any
weariness by bursting into a chorus of song. The Vesper Spar-
rows, too, had sung a good deal. On our way back the country
seemed alive with both species. Robins rose from the ground
everywhere, and, lighting on fences and trees, sang as if in their
twilight chorus. Had the cold, rain}' morning prevented their
song at dawn, and were they seizing this first kindlj' hour of the
day to celebrate it, or were they rejoicing in their arrival at old
haunts after a long journey ? The Vesper Sparrows, too, seemed
to have greatly increased in numbers in the fields we had found
them in an hour before. We sat down on a bank to listen to
the bird chorus. I had never anywhere heard so much bird
song at any time of day. There was no moment when many
Robins were not singing; no moment that the sound of Vesper-
Sparrow song was not in our ears in great volume; never, even
after sun-down in Berkshire sheep pastures, had I heard so
many singing. The Robins and Vesper Sparrows, though dom-

10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

inant, were not the onlj' singers. Redwings gurgled from the
little cedars along the fences, and Grackles from the greater
cedars; Meadow Larks chattered and fluted from ground and
fence and air; Field Sparrows uttered their little plaints from
low singing stations here and there ; everywhere Snowbirds
twittered; and a solitary Song Sparrow bubbled up his notes
from tubes that seemed ill-])racticed.

If bird boxes argue a love of birds, the people of eastern Bur-
lington County, both in the pines and without, must be written
down great bird-lovers. Some cynics, not native, whom I con-
sulted on the presence at every other house of a bird box, held
that it rather indicated plenty of time on the part of the house-
holders. I have heard the same explanation of the "Martin
poles" in the little mountain villages of eastern Kentucky.
Two native Brown's Millers whom I questioned were amused
that any one should wonder why people put up the boxes.
" People always put up bird boxes," was their comment, and
they disclaimed my suggestion that the boxes were put up for
Martins. "Just for any kind of bird that came along," they
said. I had had it in mind that as this was a country favored
for chicken raising the custom had arisen from the well-known
utility of Martins as clamorers over hawks and their pursuers.
"They perhaps put up the boxes in old time, when there were
more Martins, to attract them and through them save their
chickens from the hawks and crows," I thought, "and the
practice has continued now when the Martins are scarcer."

Certainly now Bluebirds and Whitebellied Swallows and
EnglLsh Sparrows occupy many of the boxes, although Martins
are still plentier hereabouts than in most places in the Delaware
Valley. It is very usual to see two boxes to a house, a larger
box with several openings great enough for Martins, and the
little box for one pair of Wrens so common in all of our country
that has the House Wren. One house had three Martin boxes,
of marvelous architecture, and a most ojipressive bottle-green.
These boxes boasted loggias, porticos, steeples, all those extrava-
gances that so delight the habitual whittler. Next door, a hun-
dred yards down the road, and next to that again, the Martin
box had just been remounted. In both places the unweathereU

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 11

pole was tin-banded for three feet up from a point about seven
feet above the ground, presenting an unshinnable space above
puss's jumping distance from the ground. Pointville, however,
can boast a more palatial Martin box than any at Brown's Mills.
So large is the barrel from which it is made that I first thought
it a dove-cote, for pigeons, too, are plenty about many of the
little barns. This barrel presents a circular shingle roof nar-
rowing up to a spire and three tiers of holes. It could accom-
modate a large colony of Martins, but now I am told it is no
longer visited. I was disappointed at seeing no Martins during
my staj', for even in our colder hill country in Pennsylvania I had
known them to come to their old homes before the end of
March. As it happened, I saw no birds of any kind about an)'
bird boxes, save a Bluebird sitting in the portico of a diminu-
tive two-holed structure mounted upon a very climbable pronged
cedar pole. This box was before a saw-mill several hundred
yards from any habitation. Any raccoon or possum or wildcat
from the near-by wood could have clambered up to it with ease.
As I watched, the bird's mate came to the box with straw.
That was the only nest-building of any kind that I happened
upon during our week.

It was indeed a most remarkable week. The Wednesday we
arrived, March 27th, was seasonable. Thursday it grew
warmer, and on Friday with a thermometer reaching 87 we lay
around out of doors as if it had been mid -summer. Saturday
was a tolerable day, somewhat cooler, although it greyed up
in the afternoon. Sunday was gloomy and foreboding, and
Monday morning we awoke to a driving snowstorm. Tuesday
was warmer, with snow disappearing, and Wednesday as fine an
April day of rare air and blue skies and heartening sun as one
could wish. The great heat of Friday was followed by a great
increase of birds on Saturday. They held over on Sunday and
all but the swallows, which we first saw Sunday, through the
snow of Monday. The evening we arrived the only sign of bird
life was a Robin on the lawn. The next morning I heard but
one Robin song. In Germantown the morning before I had
heard a dozen, and in Princeton, a few days earlier (March 22d),
more than a score. There were many Robins about during the

12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

day, BO it may be that most of the Robins of the neighborhood
reported to some roost hereabouts where their dawn songs were
sung far out of my hearing. I doubt, however, if this explains
it, for the birds at home were still resorting — as they usually do
until the middle of April — to a near-by roost nightly. Alto-
gether the distribution of the Robins at Brown's Mills puzzled
me. That very many breed here empty nests in every road-
side tree attest. It was surprising, too, that most of the Robins
of the neighborhood were still in flocks. Was it that the Robins
that breed at Brown's Mills were still to come from the South ?
And does this flocking indicate that our earliest Robins are the
birds that summer in the far north?

The morning after our arrival we heard in the early hours
besides the solitary Robin onl}- the Carolina Chickadees, which
persistenth' sang against each other from the tall pines about
the inn, and Meadow Lark notes that pierced through to us from
the open land northwest. The day was warm, but a walk
through the pines by the pond, and an eye on the skies, and
open ears as we loafed about the lawn, brought the list this first
day only to thirteen. Flickers called rather frequently from the
woods; Bluebirds infrequently gurgled across, high up in the
skies; a solitary Grackle labored west at sunset. All day long
Chipping Sparrows and Pine Warblers and Snowbirds graduated
their similar songs into one another so that at times you were
troubled to identifj' the singers. The Snowbirds were legion
this day everywhere, on the inn lawns, on the sandy fields, in
the peach and pear orchards and in the pine woods. I have
never seen so many anywhere as I saw this day and the next.
They sprang up before you like grasshoppers in a June meadow.
A Downy Woodpecker was busy off and on in the tall trees out-
side our window; twice I saw a pair of Doves hurtle by, and
once I heard a Song Sparrow, which in the pines is not a com-
mon bird, but when you are well without them as plenty as
may be. The Turkey Buzzards that you would see aloft almost
any time you looked up completed a list of thirteen birds, not
many for a day spent out of doors in the last days of March.
Nor was there an eventful episode in bird life to note. One bird
a friend encountered here a year before was far more interesting

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 13

than any I came upon. He had been carried out of doors on
his cot and placed in tlie sun against a wind-break of low pines.
As he dozed there he felt a plucking from below at the canvas
of his bed. "A curious trick in a chicken," he thought, and
reached his hand under to investigate. Yes, what he grabbed
was feathers. Pulling the fowl out he was surprised as at an
apparition by the red-head and long, flopping wings of a Turkey
Buzzard. The Buzzard was, he learned, a regular habitue, and
free to all the privileges of the place. What had become of the
bird I could not learn.

Friday was the first day I saw Crows, and every day after
that I saw them, but it was only seldom in the pines. In the
farm lands they were very plenty. There were Phoebes by every
stream I crossed this day, brought out by the warm weather, I
suppose, from some retreats whither they had followed the gnata
they prey upon. Now, too, we met Blue Jays, fluting, scold-
ing and ringing their mellow bell-notes, but they were not this
day or any other plenty in the neighborhood. Most of the birds
we saw this day were those we had seen the day before. We
drove by narrow trails to Hanover Furnace, passing but few
birds other than Field Sparrows, Snowbirds and Pine W^arblers
in the pines, but in the clearing about Hanover Furnace finding
flocks of Robins with many Flickers feeding on the ground
among them, and Goldfinches hanging on old weeds. There
were Meadow Larks, too, in these broad fields, uncultivated
now and lapsing into barrens, and Vesper Sparrows and Blue-
birds in the old orchards. It is a lonely, forsaken place, Han-
over Furnace, with a great house falling into decay and many
cellar holes to tell that here was once a prosperous forge. A
piner's boy in the door-yard of a wretched house at the cross-
roads, which, with one in sight across a quarter-mile field, was
all we saw of the present-day Hanover, gave us explicit direc-
tions to White's Bog, a great cranberry dyke two miles and
more south. It was a dreary ride across waste lands, with low
pine and scrub oak, and half the way boggy. Here were only
Pine Warblers and the inevitable Buzzards. About the cran-
berry pond were many Sparrows, of several kinds, but among
them I could identify only the Song Sparrows. Here, too,

14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

were Buzzards and Robinp, but comparatively few birds all told.
A pair of Kinglets were tbe only birds other than Buzzards and
Fine Warblers we met on our four miles (bniugli tbe pines back
to Brown's ]\Iills. Tliis afternoon Whitebellied NuthatchcB
were the new birds in tbe Inn Avoods, where tbe Caroline Chick-
adees sang so freely they attained to something of the melody
of tbe Crested Tit.

Saturdaj' morning we saw our first ducks on tbe pond, a pair
of Black Ducks, and once afterwards we got up a pair from one
of its backwaters. Birds were always scarce about tbe lake, not
even a Kingfisher making bis appearance there while we were by
until Tuesday, April 2d. This one and a pair that were seen the
next morning investigating a high dry bank by tbe roadside, far
from water, possibly with nesting intentions, were all we saw
on our trip. The other new bird of the day was a single Fox
Sparrow, in full song. Sundaj' brought no new bird, save the
Whitebellied Swallows and the Killdeer, and a few Cedar birds,
who curiously lit in the same tree with a bunch of Robins.
Walking toward Lewistown on Monday I saw a Cooper's Hawk.
Tuesday at sunset I came upon a Hermit Thrush in tbe deep
swamp by tbe Rancocas. Wednesday morning a drive to Pem-
berton added a Sparrow Hawk to tbe list. This completes the
list — thirty-one in all, tbe smallest I ever recorded from a week
of spring.

What I learned ornithologically from the trip was something
of Pine Warblers. I bad met them before, now and again, but
their inconspicuousness and unappealing song had left little
impression upon me. Nor can I say now after a week, in which
I think during the day time I was hardly ever without their
song in my ears, that I am greatly taken with them. They
have now, however, an identity in my mind. They are cheer-
ful, hardy little fellows, stoics in a snowstorm and epicureans
in sunny weather. The pines were full of them all the time of
our visit, but they were plentiful also along roadsides through
farm lands. Had I left after a four days' stay I would have
associated them only with the pine woods, whose lazy tonic
quality their song re-echoes. At about every hundred yards in
the high pines about tbe lower end of the pond you would come

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 15

upon one singing. Standing at any point hereabouts and listen-
ing you could pick out five or six individual voices. Behind
those would be a hum of others in the distance not unlike the
sound of the wind in the pines. Those I observed did not pass
from tree to tree like a Kinglet, but after hunting through the
top of one pine dipped to another a hundred yards distant, sang
there, sometimes sitting still on a dead twig Chippy-like and
stuttering out Cliippy-like notes, and at other times singing as
they hunted over the top branches. During the day they did
not seem to be in flocks, but generally single, though often I saw
a pair together. At night-fall I several times found four or five
together in low bushes by the waterside. As I was walking by
the j)ond on Monday evening after a day of snow I heard a very
faint cheep. A stand-still of a few minutes, and peering around
discovered four little birds on some sweet-pepper bushes that
extended out over the water. It was a little while before I
could identify them as Pine Warblers, because the one that
was in male plumage kept persistently in a thick part of the
bush. The three others were, in that light, without any yellow
whatsoever. But even before I saw the male, white patches
in the tail feathers and whitish wing-bars indicated the
identity of the others. They could hardly have chosen a more
uncomfortable hunting-ground. There they were, just by the
water, with no protection from the bitter wind that was blowing
out of the sunset across the pond. Yet they hunted about live-
lily, cheeping to each other constantly, though the wind every
minute fluffed up their feathers, or, catching their tails, veered
them around like miniature weathercocks. The next morning
I found a little flock of them feeding along a burnt-over fence-
row between road and orchard. They were very tame, hopping
within ten feet of me in their search for whatever it was at-
tracted them in the charred stubble, and mounting the fence to
sing at even nearer distance. They would be searching the in-
terstices of the rails of the snake fence like Wrens the minute
after they had been ground hunting like Chippies. A further
versatility of procedure was revealed by a little flock in the
pines below the inn the same evening. They drifted into a tree
above me as noisily as Yellowbirds. Love chases were inter-

16 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

spersed with Vireo-like hunting through the tops, creeper-like
climbing on the larger branches and Flycatcher excursions out
into the air. All these activities were accompanied by ceaseless
song, which once in a while had a more melodious quality than
the lazy drawl so characteristic of the sun-steeped pine tops of
midday. Whether the Pine Warbler is a bird you can take
deep into your affections, I do not know. Only acquaintance
with all his ways would reveal that, but what I learned of him
in one week augurs well for a greater liking. For a Warbler he
is a restful bird, symbolical in this, as in song and dress, of the
pine barrens that are his home.

Type Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and
New Jersey

BY SPENCEK TROTTER

The title, "Tj'pe Birds," may not be exactly clear as to the
meaning it is intended to convey. By "type" I mean the in-
dividual specimen that furnished thejirst or original description
of a species under the Linnean or binomial nomenclature. Prior
to this use of generic and specific names to express the idea of
likeness or unlikeness in living beings — to describe a form of life
as distinguished from other forms — a cumbersome description
in Latin was resorted to which carried with it but a vague im-
pression of a distinct form of life, and gave no clue whatever to
relationship. Catesby was a pre-Linnean describer of numerous
North American birds, but while his descriptions are good, his
cumbersome polynomial names, though interesting from a
purely historical point of view, do not hold in the nomen-
clature of to-day.

Linnseus, the founder of the binomial system, and Gmelin,
the compiler of a later edition of the " Systema Naturae," in
their efforts to name all known species in accordance with the
new mode went over the works of their predecessors and furn-
ished each bird there described and figured with a proper Latin
binomial name, quoting only a few words of description in their
"Systema," but giving a reference to the original work. So
while we quote our names from Linnaeus or Gmelin, we must
still go back to the mustier volumes of Catesby, Edwards, Kalm,
etc., to find out where the birds came from, and just what they
were.

It has been a matter of some interest to me to trace the locali-
ties from which the original individual or type specimens of our
common birds came from, and to discover how many of them
were obtained by Philadelphia collectors.

(17)

18 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

When Linnseus published the tenth edition of his "Systeina
Naturpp," in 1758, in which he first adopted the binomial nom-
enclature, he was almost wholly dependent upon Catesby's
"Carolina" for his knowledge of North American birds, and in
this way the type locality of many of our familiar species is
" Carolina;" Catesby not being very explicit as to definite local-
ities. By the time the twelfth edition of Linnaeus' " Systema "
appeared in 176G, Geo. Edwards' "Gleanings" had been pub-
lished, and herein are figured and described a number of birds
sent to England by John and William Bartram, of Pennsyl-
vania. John sent the " Ruffed Heathcock," while William sent,
June, 1756, fourteen dried skins, mostly nondescripts with col-
ored drawings of some and numerous notes on their habits. All
these were undoubtedly obtained in the vicinity of Bartram's
Garden, and were the type specimens of the following species
described and figured by Edwards and duly named by Linnaeus,
Gmelin or Latham.

It will be noticed that many of our vernacular names for
these birds originated with Edwards or were communicated to
him by William Bartram:

Spotted Sandpiper, ActUis inacidaria (Linn.). "Spotted
Tringa" sent by William Bartram.

Ruffed Grouse, Bonnsa nmhellus (Linn.). "Ruffed Heath-
cock or Grouse" sent from Pennsylvania by John Bartram to
Peter Collinson on July 15, 1750.

White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albirolUs (Gmel. ). Re-
ceived from William Bartram under the above name with a care-
fully-colored drawing.

Worm-eating Warbler, Helmitheros vermivorus (Gmel.).
"The Worm-eater" from William Bartram.

Golden-winged Warbi.er, Helminthophilachrysoptera (Linn.).
"The Golden-winged Flycatcher" from William Bartram.

Blue-winged Warbler, Helm.inthnphila pinus (Linn.).
Thought ijy Edwards to be the Pine Creeper of Catesby. Our
present vernacular name seems to have originated with Wilson.

Black-throated Green Warbler, Dendroicn virens (Gmel.).
"The Black-throated Green Flycatcher" received from William
Bartram.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 19

Chestnut-sided Wahbler, Dendroica ■pcnaylvamai (Linn.).
"The Red-throated Flycatcher" received from William Bar-
tram.

Myrtle Warbler, Dendroica coronnia (Linn.). "The
Golden -crowned" Fl^-catcher received from William Bartram.
The na!ne coronaia is evidently derived from Edwards' ver-
nacular name.

Magnolia Warbler, Dendroica mandosa (Gmel.). "The
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher," a bird in the first-year autumnal
plumage received from William Bartram.

Tit Lark, AiUhus poisUvcinicns (Lath.). "The Lark of
Pennsylvania" received from William Bartram. I>atham was
the first to found a binomial name upon this plate.

Gnatcatciier, Polioptiln coendca (Linn. ). "The Little Blue-
gray Flycatcher " received from William Bartram along with
nests, the bird being then a regular breeder near Philadelphia.

RuBY-CEOWNED Knight, Regulus calemlida (Linn.). Bartram
sent both the " Ruby crowned " and "Golden-crested Wrens"
and Edwards figured both, but while he recognized the former
as a new species, the latter was considered identical with the
European species for many 3'ears.

No name has so thoroughly impressed itself on American
Ornithology as that of Alexander Wilson. His work was, in
the main, carried on in the neighborhood of Philadelphia and
many of his "types " were secured in this vicinity. Of all the
species, the types of which were secured in eastern Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, not less than twenty-three have Wilson's name
afTixed to them, and several more are closely identified with
him.

Wilson very generally speaks of the locality where he secured
a new bird and when such a definite statement is not made we
are justified in regarding the vicinity of Philadelphia as locus
avis norse.

The following list includes those species that were described
from Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey by Wilson or his
friend George Ord, who edited the last volumes of Wilson's
Ornithology, and later editions of the work :

Bonaparte's Gull, Larvs phdadelphia (Ord.). This species

20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

was first described in Guthrie's Geography under the name
Banded-tail Tern, Sterna "philudelphui. It was evidently cap-
tured in this vicinity, as the specific name would indicate.

Ring-billed Gull, Lams delawarensis (Ord). Described as
the Toothed-bill Gull by Ord in Guthrie's Geography. In a
foot-note he adds: "This is a beautiful Gull, and was discov-
ered on the Delaware below Philadelphia."

Canvas-back Duck, Aythya raUisneria (Wils. ). This duck is
first described by Wilson as a distinct species under the name
Anas valisineria.* With a reference to a Peale's Museum speci-
men, a lengthy description of the bird and its habits follows:
American Ornithology, vol. viii, p. 103. The type may have
come from the near-by Chesapeake, but I have included it in
this list, for Wilson speaks of a pair which he bought in the
Philadelphia market which had been shot at Egg Harbor, N. J.

Ruddy Duck, Erismatara rubida (Wlls. ). "This very rare
Duck was shot some years ago on the river Delaware, and ap-
pears to be an entire new species. The specimen here figured,
with the female that accompanies it, and which was killed in
the same river, are the only individuals of their kind I have
met with. They are both preserved in the superb museum of
my much-respected friend, Mr. Peale of this city." American
Ornithology, vol. viii, p. 128.

Long-billed Curlew, Numcnius ionyiroslris (Wils. ). This bird
is first clearly distinguished by Wilson as a distinct species from
the European Curlew. "The Curlews appear in the salt
marshes of New Jersey about the middle of May on their way
to the north, and in September on their return from their breed-
ing places." American Ornithology, vol. viii, p. 23.

Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicala (Ord). \A'ilson did not
clearly distinguish this bird as a distinct species from the com-
mon Snipe of Europe. He speaks of its arrival in Pennsylvania
and its frequenting the low grounds along the Delaware and
Schuylkill. Ord recognized it as a distinct species from the

* As Dr. Trotter points out, Wilson consistently misspells this word, and if
we are to follow original spellings to the extent of " }>ejisilranica'' and
" hiemalis," it would seem that wemnst lollow the habit of the duck and swallow
OMT valmneria even though it be with less of a relish than he experiences. — W.S.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 21

European Snipe, as is attested in vol. ix of the American
Ornithology, 1825 edition. The original description given by
Wilson was undoubtedly taken from a bird shot in this vicinity.

Solitary Sandpiper, Hehdromas solitarivs (Wils.). "This
new species inhabits the watery solitudes of our highest mountains
during the summer, from Kentucky to New York; * * * * At the
approach of cold weather it descends to the muddy shores of
our large rivers, * * * * I have made long and close search for
the nest of this bird without success. They regularly breed on
Pocono Mountain, between Easton and Wilkes-Barre, in Penn-
sylvania, arriving there early in May, and departing in Septeni-
ber." American Ornithology, vol. vii, p. 53, Peale's Museum,
No. 7763.

Piping Plover, jEyialitis meloda (Ord). This species was
described by Wilson in vol. v, American Ornithology, p. 30,
under the name of Ringed Plover, Charadrms hiaticula, confus-
ing it with another species and regarding it as a different plum-
age phase. He records the bird from "Summer's" Beach,
at the mouth of Great Egg Harbour, N. J.

In vol. vii, p. 65, under the account of the Ring Plover,
Wilson refers to the mistake in confusing the two. He further
says: "The present species, or true Ring Plover, and also the
former (referring to the Piping Plover described and figured in
vol. V as above quoted), both arrive on the seacoast of New
Jersey late in April." Ord named the bird in the reprint of
Vol. VII, 1824.

Wilson's Plover, jEgialitis ivilsonia (Ord). "Of this neat
and prettily-marked species I can find no account, and have
concluded that it has hitherto escaped the eye of the naturalist.
The bird of which the figure in the plate is a correct resemblance
was shot the 13th of May, 1813 on the shore of Cape Island,
New Jersey, by my ever-regretted friend, and I have honored it
with his name." Ord in vol. ix, American Ornithology, p. 77.

SemipaLxMATED Plover, ^EglalUis semipalmata (Bp. ). Wilson
figures and describes the Ringed Plover in vol. vii of the American
Ornithology as previously noted under the specific name hiati-
cula which is that of the European form. Bonaparte first recog-
nized it as a distinct species and so records the fact in the

22 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
vol. V, p. 98, giving it the name semipalmata.

King Rail, Rdllus elegnns ( Aud. ). Wilson figures this species
under the description of the Clapper Rail, R. crepitans. Audu-
bon recognized the error, and names the bird as distinct in a
most patronizing paragraph. Wilson evidently confused the
two as one and the same species, saying, " Though occasionally
found along the swampy shores and tide waters of our large
rivers, its princijial residence is in the salt marshes."

Audubon refers to the bird as breeding in the salt meadows
along the Delaware and Schuylkill, where Wilson most likely
obtained the specimen from which he made his drawing, prob-
ably' the Peale's Museum specimen which he quotes. Ameri-
can Ornithology, vol. vii, p. 112, plate 62.

Goshawk, Astnr alricapillus (Wils. ). The specimen figured
and described was "shot within a few miles of Philadelphia."
American Ornithology, vi, p. 80.

Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiler velox (\Yih.). Wilson says,
" This Hawk was shot on the banks of the Schuylkill near Mr.
Bartram's. Its singularity of flight surprised me long before I
succeeded in procuring it." American Ornithology, v, p. 116.
Under the name of Fulco pcnnsylvanicus, or Slate-colored Hawk,
he described "a beautiful specimen shot in the neighborhood
of Philadelphia." American Ornithology, vi, p. 13. This, as
he suspected, proved to be the adult plumage of the former.

Broad-winged Hawk, Buteo platypterus (^Viell.). Referring to
plate 54, vol. vi, of the American Ornithology, Wilson speaks
of this Hawk as a neiv species, "shot on the 6th of May in Mr.
Bartram's woods, near the Schuylkill, and was afterwards pre-
sented to Mr. Peale, in whose collection it now remains."

Another was seen the next day sailing about over the same
woods, but was driven off by a Kingbird, much to the orni-
thologist's regret. The specimen secured was a male, and is
now in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phil-
adelphia. Wilson named the Broadwing Falco pcnnsylvanicus,
a name that he had already bestowed upon the adult Sharp-
shinned Hawk. In his reprint of Wilson's work Ord sulistitutes
the specific name latissimm, while Vieillot, a French ornitholo-
gist, proposed plalypterus. The latter has priority.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 23

Black-billed Cuckoo, Coccyms erylhro'phthahnus (Wils. ).
This species was first described by Wilson, vol. iv, p. 16, as a
distinct species, and though he does not mention any locality, it
is highly probable that the type specimen was obtained near
Philadelphia. He refers also to a Peale's Museum specimen.

Vol. iv of the American Ornithology was issued in 1811.
The preface to this volume contains a very interesting account
of the different species of birds found nesting in Bartram's Gar-
den, and also notes on the arrivals of certain species.

Whip-poor-will, Antroslomus vociferus (Wils. ). "Though
this noted bird has been so frequently mentioned by name, and
its manners taken notice of by almost every naturalist who has
written on our birds, 3-et personally it has never yet been de-
scribed by any writer with whose works I am acquainted. Ex-
traordinary as this may seem, it is nevertheless true; and in
proof I offer the following facts." American Ornithology,
vol. V, p. 78.

Fish Crow, Corvus ossifragus (Wils. ). In his description Wil-
son says that a pair bred in a piece of tall woods near Mr. Beasley's
at Great Egg Harbor. " The male of this nest furnished me
with the figure in the plate." American Ornithology, v, p. 27.

Pine Siskin, Spinus pinus (Wils.). American Ornithology,
vol. ii, p. 133. The type undoubtedly from this locality. Wilson
speaks of it as visiting us in November, and of the large flocks
that frequented the gardens of Bush Hill in the neighborhood
of Philadelphia. He makes no mention of having observed it
elsewhere.

Chipping Sparrow, Spizdla socialis (Wils.). American Orni-
thologj', vol. ii, p. 127. The type undoubtedly from this
vicinity. Bartrain calls it " Po-sser chmesticus, the little House
Sparrow or Chipping-bird." The bird was so common that
Wilson, though its first biographer and namer, makes no men-
tion of it as a novelty.

Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla (Wils.). First described by
Wilson in vol. ii, p. 121, American Ornithology, though listed
by Bartram as Passer agrestis. Evidently the type was ob-
tained in this vicinity. Wilson speaks of it as generally migra-
tory in Pennsylvania, and further adds that "it has no song;

24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

but a kind of chirping not much different from the chirpings of
a cricket." This is a curious statement, for to me in its plain-
tive song there is all of the charm and sweetness of the budding
borders of April woods. John Burroughs' name of Bush Spar-
row seems quite as applicable to this species as Wilson's name
of Field Sparrow.

Song Sparrow, Melospiza cinerea melodia (Wils. )• No definite
locality is given, it being such a common species that Wilson
could not be sure that it was not already described.

Grasshopper Sparrow, Coturnicwlus savanarrum passerinus
(Wils. ). This species he found at Staten Island and along the
seacoast of New Jersey, but is not explicit as to the type locality.

Savanna Sparrow, Passerculus sandw. savanna (Wils. ) is de-
scribed at length in vol. iii, American Ornithology, the figure
being that of the female. From Wilson's account it was evi-
dently named by him after the city of Savannah, and the naine
is so spelled. He speaks of having first discovered it there, and
later having found it abundant near Great Egg Harbor, N. J.,
where he evidently obtained the Ipswich, or as he supposed,
the male Savanna Sparrow.* While not the type, ^Vils()!l's
specimen was evidently the first obtained.

Seaside Sparrow, AmmodramMs maritimus (Wils.). In vol.
iv, plate 34, American Ornithology, Wilson figures this bird and
says, "Of this bird I can find no description. It inhabits the
low, rush-covered islands along our Atlantic coast, where 1
first found it." It is altogether likely that he first met with
this sparrow on the New Jersey marshes, possibly in the vicinity
of Great Egg Harbor, where he did much collecting and where
the bird is common.

Solitary Vireo, Vireo solitarius (Wils.). Under the name of
Solitary Flycatcher, Muscicopa solitaria, Wilson describes this
bird in vol. ii, American Ornithology, p. 143, and says, "The
one from which the figure in the plate was taken was shot in
Mr. Bartram's woods near Philadelphia, among the branches of
a dogwood, in the month of October."

Cerulean Warbler, Dendroica casrulea (Wils.). The type
undoubtedly from this neighborhood. In vol. ii, American Orni-

* Of. Stoni-, Oiiprct/.

DELAWARE V.\LLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 25

thology, p. 141, Wilson says, "This delicate little species is
now, for the first time, introduced to public notice. Except my
friend Mr. Peale, I know of no other naturahst who seems to
have hitherto known of its existence." He further adds, ''It
is one of our scarce birds in Pennsylvania, and its nest has
hitherto eluded my search. I have never observed it after the
20th of August."

Bay-breasted Warbler, Dendroica castanea (Wils. ). This
species was listed by Bartram under the name of Parus peregrinus,
the Little Chocolate-breasted Titmouse. Wilson first described
it as Sylvia castanea, giving to it its present English name. He
speaks of it as a very rare species, passing through Pennsylvania
about the beginning of May. The type was evidently obtained
in this vicinity. American Ornithology, vol. ii, p. 97.

Mourning Warbler, Geuthlypis Philadelphia (Wils.). In vol.
ii, page 101 of the American Ornithology, Wilson says, " I have
the honor of introducing to the notice of naturalists and others
a very modest and neat little species which has liitherto eluded
their research. I must also add, with regret, that it is the only
one of its kind I have yet met with. The bird from which the
figure in the plate was taken was shot in the early part of June,
on the border of a marsh, within a few miles of Philadelphia. ' '

Long-billed Marsh Wren, Telmatodytes palustris (Wils.).
Under the name Certhia palustris, Wilson describes this little bird
in vol. ii, p. 58 of the American Ornitholog}'. He speaks of its
arrival in Pennsylvania and also of its curious song heard " on
the reedy borders of the Schuylkill or Delaware in the month of
June."

Wilson's Thrush, Hylocichlafuscesccns (Steph.). Wilson first
clearlj' distinguished this species from the Wood and Hermit
Thrushes, but unfortunately selected a name, Turdus musiel-
inus, which had already been bestowed upon the Wood Thrush
by Gmelin. Bonaparte renamed Wilson's bird T. wilsoni, and
Stephens, T. fuscescens, the latter having priority.

Small-headed Flycatcher, Muscicapa minida (Wils. ). This
species, not since detected and the basis of Audubon's attack on
Wilson and Ord's countercharge, is stated by the latter to have
been secured by Wilson near Philadelphia.

26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Besides the foregoing, Wilson described a number of supposed
novelties from the neighborhood of Philadelphia, such as the
Bartramian Sandpiper, Black Hawk, Nighthawk, Crossbill,
Swamp Sparrow, Tree Swallow, Warbling and Yellow-throated
Vlreos, Cape May Warbler and Water Thrush; and while Phila-
delphia remains the type locality for the names he proposed,
these have become mere synonyms of names proposed by others
a few years earlier in works to which Wilson had not access.
Many of his vernacular names, however, such as Cape May
Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, etc., still persist.

Of the discovery of the former, he says "obtained in a maple
swamp in Cape May Co., not far from the coast, by Mr. George
Ord." The earlier specimen figured by Edwards and named by
Gmelin came on to a vessel at sea " ten leagues off the Florida
coast," a much less satisfactory type locality ! Of the Bar-
tramian Sandpiper, lie says : "This bird being, as far as I can
discover, a new species, undescribed by any former author, I
have honored it with the name of my very worthy friend, near
whose botanic gardens, on the banks of the river Schuylkill, I
first found it."

A number of other names proposed by Wilson were for birds
that he well knew had been described before, but not realizing
the force of the rule of priority, he felt at liberty to rename any
species whose earlier appellations did not suit his taste. Gener-
ally, however, Wilson took these names from Bartram's manu-
script or from his " Travels " in an attempt to force into use the
names proposed by his friend and counsellor, who was un-
doubtedly the first to discover a large number of our birds, but
who unfortunately published no descriptions of them, even
though he coined names for them.

Bonaparte apparently named but one new species from our
district, namely, the

Stilt Sandpiper, Mkropalma himantopus (Bonap. ). In a
paper read Nov. 6, 1826, before the New York Lyceum, and
published in the "Annals" of that society, vol. ii, p. 157, he
says: "This new species I shot from a flock at Long Branch,
N. J., in the middle of July." This clearly gives the bird a
title to a place as a type species from this region. I have heard
this species called Bonaparte Snipe on Long Island.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 27

Barred Owl, Syrnium varium (Barton) obviously from Phila-
delphia. Barton, in his curious " Fragments of Natural His-
torj'," names it as new.

Wilson had so thoroughly scoured Pennsylvania that but
little was left for Audubon to discover in this neighborhood,
and we find most of his noveltios described from the south or
west. There are, however, the following:

Pine Warbler, Dendroica vigorsii (Aud.). This is the Sylvia
vigorsii of Audubon obtained on the Perkiomen Creek. The
bird was known before, but none of the older names are avail-
able.

Trudeau'sTebn, Sterna Inuleaui (Aud.). Obtained at Great
Egg Harbor, N. J. A pure straggler from the south.

Cuvier's Kixglet, liegidus cavieri (Aud.). Fatland Ford,
Schuylkill River, June 8, 1812. This unique bird was not pre-
served, and the like of it no one else ever saw.

Towxsend's Buntino, Emheriza iownsendii (Aud.). New
Garden, Chester Co., Pa. A probable hybrid. The unique
type is still preserved in the National Museum.

Since the time of Audubon but three new birds have been
discovered in eastern Pennsjdvania. These are as follows :

Philadelphia Vireo, Vireo philadelphkm (Cassin). Type
secured by John Cassin, September, 1842, in Bingham's Woods,
where Horticultural Hall now stands in West Fairmount Park,
Philadelphia. See Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Sciences, Philadelphia, v, Feb., 1851.

Least Flycatcher, Empidonax vnnimus (Baird).

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Empidonax flaviventris (Baird).

Both obtained at Carlisle, Pa., by \Vm. IM. and Spencer F.
Baird, and described by them in the Proceedings of the Phila-
delphia Academy, July, 1843.

Bird Life of the Indian River Country of Delaware

BY CHARLES J. PENNOCK

The Indian River region of Delaware forms a considerable
area in the southeastern part of the State. It includes the
basin of the Indian River, Rehoboth Baj', and Indian River
Bay, the last two being respectively the north and south arms
of a single body of water with a common opening to the sea,
known as Indian River Inlet. The area as a whole comprises
about twenty-five miles of the Atlantic seaboard. The country
bordering the bays is settled farm land with large bodies of
timber interspersed, consisting of pine, sweet gum, several
species of oak, swamp magnolia and laurel, while a few
cypress trees are still to be seen on the upper waters of the In-
dian river.

I. MiLLSBORO

My first visit to this countrj' was in company with Mr. S. N.
Rhoads late in October, 1903, and our headquarters were at
Millsboro, a hamlet of about five hundred inhabitants situated
on the Indian River about eight miles from the bay. There is
a dam here which supplies power to a flour and feed mill on
the opposite side of the stream from the village. The river
proper really begins below the dam, and for the first half-mile
is barely wide enough to allow of the passage of a small steam
launch used for towing lumber barges from the sawmills along
the shores. It is quite winding as it nears the bay, and on one
side or the other is usually lined by extensive marshes, while
there are frequent tracts of timber. An occasional fisherman
has his primitive-looking home near the bank, with his nets
hanging about. Our time was very limited on this occasion,
and we saw but few birds.

On December 5-6, 1904, I was again at Millsboro. Tlie

(28)

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 29

weather was cold, and birds extremely scarce. Twenty or
thirty Redheads, some Ruddy Ducks and Old-squaws, a bunch
of one hundred Scaup and a few Black Ducks, and in the dim
distance what were said to be Geese comprised all the game
birds observed. Pied-billed and Horned Grebes were abundant,
and a single Holboell's Grebe was seen.

The evening of May 12, 1905, found me again at Millsboro,
prepared this time to learn something of the bird life of this
region, which I had hitherto seen only at unfavorable seasons.
I set out early the following morning in a gasoline launch,
headed down the bay.

House Wrens and Baltimore Orioles were especially abundant
in the village, and the Oriole was frequently heard later in the
adjacent country. Blackpoll Warblers had not reached Kennett
Square, Pa. , when I left home, but were singing here near the
boat landing. When I landed, two or three miles down the
river, I saw a flock of Least Sandpipers and what I took for
Lesser Yellowlegs.

A new song was heard among some bushes at the border of
the mar.sh, and pushing my way through to an opening in the
thicket, I was able to collect my first Henslow's Sparrow. I
have seen this bird in New Castle County, but not in the nesting
or singing season. To me the note resembles more the words
"switch 'em," "switch 'em," than the "amen" of Mr.
Rhoads' paper.* Farther down the bay a Bald Eagle was being
persecuted by a Crow, and a Loon flew so close to the boat thai
I could clearly distinguish the markings on his neck. On visit-
ing a pool in the marsh I flushed a Solitary Sandpiper and a
drake Black Duck. An earlier interview with some other "or-
nithologist" had somewhat impaired his activity, else his red
legs would no doubt have long since been paddling in more
northern climes. Next day, however, I saw a pair of Black
Ducks swimming confidingly together, and have no doubt they
intended to remain and nest in this locality, but I presume
their legs were dark.

Down near the "inlet," or more properly, the outlet of In-

*Cassinia, 1902, p. 6.

30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

dian River and Rohoboth Bayp, we went ashore for an hour or
so. The beach was birdless, but back on the marsh a quarter
of a mile we found numbers of Least Sandpipers and a few
Greater Yellowlegs, while on a dry, sandy waste was a single
male Bobolink, not a common species so close along the shore.

A Fish Hawk's nest, to wiiich I climbed, contained three
eggs, and halfway up its side, well secured among the coarse
sticks, boards and corn stalks was a bulky nest of the Purplr
Grackle with five eggs. We ran our boat up the unfinished
canal that was to have joined Rehoboth Bay with Delaware Bay
near Lewes, tied up and spent the night lulled to sleep by the
monotonous calls of the ^Miip-poor-wills. Early the following
morning I strolled to a near-by wood. Tufted Titmice, Pine
Warblers and Ovenbirds were there; and I detected an appa-
rently familiar fine-spun but elusive note in the tree tops that
puzzled me, but after sometime I caught sight of a pair nf
Cerulean Warblers verj' actively searching for food among the
branches — my old friends of the Chojjtank bottom.* A Cardi-
nal's nest containing one egg of the owner and two of the Cow-
bird was also found.

We were off at 8.15 o'clock for the bay. Numerous Fish
Hawks were seen flying about, and several nests were in sight.
One old bird was carrying material for repairing a nest, and we
had a good view of his manner of grasping it. He was carry-
ing what seemed to be a piece of reed or weed two feet long,
with considerable brush at the end. It was held lengthwise in
the direction of the bird's flight, and grasped by both feet one
well in advance of the other, and both legs apparently extended
downward to about their full length, so that the load was clear
of the body, but offered little resistance to flight. We visited
several nests of the Fish Hawk, one in a persimmon bush right
up among the small branches, which seemed too light to sup-
port such a weight ; another in a fork of a good-sized oak stand-
ing alone by the water was easil}' reached from the top of a wire
fence. Another nest was sixty feet up on a tall almost dead
tree supported by a single limb, and still another had been
placed on the roof of a deserted house supported on the ruins
of the crumbling chimney. This one had, however, been

*See The Auk, 1005, p. 194.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 31

blown down. As far as examined the nests contained three
eggs and three at least had Purple Crackles nesting in their
sides.

A pair of Night Hawks were flushed from a plowed field, and
first one and then the other would fly a few feet and silently
float back to the ground. We could approach within ten feet
as they sat on a clod. There was a marked difference in the
brilliancj' of their plumage. Going back to the launch, I rested
while the crew rowed off to a bar to dig .some clams. In an
hour they returned quite excited over two white birds that had
"growled" or "snarled" at them as they passed a mud flat.
Returning with them I found a dozen Greater Yellowlegs, a
flock of Least Sandpipers and some undetermined Sandpipers,
along with the white birds which proved to be Forster's Terns.

The morning of May 15th I drove a few miles back into the
country. Here I saw and heard several Prairie Warblers in a
rather open pine clearing. A Summer Tanager flew across the
road ahead of my team, and I saw a single Mockingbird. Red-
starts and Black-and-white Warblers and Vesper Sparrows were
also noted, the last named apparently not a common bird in
lower Sussex Count}'.

Several Henslow's Sparrows were seen in an open clearing —
part of an old C3'press swamp as laid down on ancient maps of
the district. As we returned I noted the only Blue-gray Gnat-
catcher of the trip.

My entire list observed at Millshoro on this trip was seventy-
three. All of these would seem to be breeders in this vicinity ex-
cept the Loon, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Black-poll
Warbler, Wilson's Thrush and possibly the Redstart which,
however, passes the summer in the Choptank river-bottom on
the western border of the state and may breed here also.

Among the sppcics observed along the bay, and not previously
mentioned, were the Sharp-tailed and Seaside Finches, Fish
Crow and Bittern.

The scarcity of littoral species was noticable, but I am con-
fident that the localit}' is a good one for "beach birds" on
favorable days, as it is the first landing place for birds that cross
Delaware Bay from the New Jersey coast.

32 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

II. South Shore of Indian River Bay

Ever since I began my field studies of Delaware birds I have
had in mind the strip of ocean front at the southeast corner
of the State as being an out-of-the-way locality, with possi-
bilities in the way of good bird records. As Ocean View seemed
to be the only town marked on my map as located in that
region, I have always kept that name before me as a basis for
operations. I could find no one who had ever been to Ocean
View or who knew aught of the country thereabouts, which only
served to add to the interest of the proposed trip. This section
now to be considered lies directly south of that formerly de-
scribed and extends to the Maryland line, about ten miles from
Indian River Inlet.

The opportunity to visit this locality came in May, 1907,
when, after an uncomfortable illness, I went for a breath of salt
air and while not yet strong enough for hard tramping, my
brief stay of a day and a half gave a glimpse of the bird life and
a very fair idea of the character of the country and its ornitho-
logical possibilities which I do not hesitate to predict will prove
when carefully worked out to equal all my fancy has pictured.

On the afternoon of May 19, 1907, I met my brother-in-law,
a Philadelphia physician, on a train southward bound at Wil-
mington, Del., and about four hours later, or at 8:15, we were
in a stage at Frankford, Del., a hundred miles south of Wil-
mington and but five or six miles from the southern Delaware
state line.

We speculated en route as to the probable length of our car-
riage ride. I fancied it to be four or five miles, while the doctor
maintained that from the map it should be seven or eight miles,
and we were both a good deal surprised to learn from our driver,
who met us by prior arrangement, that we had ten and a half
miles to drive to reach Ocean View, and as the mistress of the
only house in that hamlet where strangers were entertained was
now ill, we were to go on a mile and a half farther to Cedar
Grove Park. As our train had just kept ahead of a threatening
thunder squall for the last hour and the clouds were still massed
ofiF to the northward, there was some uneasiness on the part of
one member of the party at least. However, we had a right

DELAWABE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CISUB. 33

good span of horses, and the driver evidently was afraid of
thunder, so we bowled along in good style and at 9:30 swung
into Ocean View. Here we waited nearly an hour for the storm
to drift farther away, but no rain coming, we finally persuaded
our Jehu to carry us on to our final destination, and at 10:45
we drew up to Cedar Grove Park and were greatly surprised to
find a most attractive hotel on a commanding knoll with the
Indian River Bay on three sides, from north-east to west,
and the Ocean two miles distant across the marsh to the east
and south-east, while Henlopen light flared up twelve to fifteen
miles north of us. We were not expected at so late an hour
and had some difficulty is arousing mine host, hut his welcome
was genuine, and very soon the distant sound of the surf served
as a lullaby, and sandy roads, thunder and lightning, the crack
of a whip and the query, "Will it rain?" faded away to be
replaced sometime later by a faint far-away impression of un-
usual and strangely-mixed sounds; and then gradually a con-
sciousness that something said " honk-honk-konk " and some-
thing else said " tseep-chip."

Finally, when self could assert itself and the watch said 4:30
a. m., a glance out the east window discovered a Chestnut-sided
Warbler in a wild cherry tree close by the house, and two hun-
dred yards distant in a quarter-acre pen, five Canada Geese
ranging at will and accompanied by several Black Ducks and
Mallards. As I dressed the sun rested on the ocean a big red
ball, the salt marshes were green with the fresh new grass, the
waters of the bay were sparkling, the distant voice of the ocean
was almost hushed, and I felt that the south shore of Indian
River Bay was a veritable " Point of Paradise," as this region
was named by the early Swedish settlers.

I thought to take my gun and steal out for a walk alone with-
out disturbing the doctor, but he also had heard the Wild
Geese, and was ready for a two hours' tramp before breakfast.
My health would not permit any vigorous operations, and we
did not wander far from our home, but strolled across a quarter
mile of open salt-marsh, down along a tidal cove, up through a
beautiful piece of open oak woods, across an old field grown up
somewhat with pine saplings, sedge grass and weeds, and on

34 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

down the sandy road to the rear of our liote], and through the
pretty grove to our breakfast.

I do not propose tiring you with the list of species seen on our
walk. They numbered thirty-nine positively identified, and
three Warblers not recognized. I do not of course include the
empounded Geese and Ducks. Down by the Cove, Fish Hawks
were flying, and several nests were seen during the walk. Fish
Crows were feeding, and as I passed along the edge of the oak
woods one flow from a nest in the top of a small cedar tree,
about fifteen feet up, and I took along the set of four perfectly
fresh eggs. Do they usually nest later than the larger species? I
collected a set near Lewes several j'ears ago about the same date
and quite fresh. A pair of Greater Yellowlegs whistled well
out over the water, and bending low on the open marsh I
whistled them up until one jiaid the penalty of his curiosity. I
had noticed some small Ducks drifting up in the Cove, and
quietly walked up within two hundred yards of a bunch of
thirty-two Ruddys, so close I could see the head markings and
short spiny tails.

Seaside Sparrows were quite abundant on this marsh and I
noted how few were the Sharp-tailed species, but later in the
day, out on the marsh near the ocean, the two species were
about equally abundant and both in full song. Several small
bunches of Least Sandpipers went skimming over the short
grass and alighted for an early lunch on a bare mud flat. Tow-
hees and Red-e3'ed Vireos were singing as I investigated the
contents of the Fish Crow's nest, and a pair of Fish Hawks ])ro-
tested seriously as I passed under the old gnarled and almost
dead oak that stood out alone near the edge of the woods ex-
posed to the damp winds from across the bay. I have never
yet been fully satisfied with an explanation of the dying tree
containing the nest of the Osprey. I suspect the bulky mass of
decaying vegetable matter may be the main factor. Seaweed,
corn-stalks grass and decaying wood of the usual large bulk,
up among the smaller branches. I think, might well make
trouble with the vitality of a healthy tree. As we walolied the
old Ospreys, the doctor told me of his having watched an Eagle
Bccure his breakfast by robbing the Fish Hawk. The Eagle

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 35

performed the usual upward spiral flight forcing the Osprey
higher and higher and always sliding under the upper bird as
it would attempt to escape. Finally the Hawk, concluding that
further effort at escape was useless, dropped his fish, and as the
doctor expressed it, seemed to say to the Eagle, " Well, here it
is," and passed it down to the waiting bird who turned on his
side and seized it with his feet as it came along. In talking
this over later in the presence of our landlord he stated that he
had noticed that under similar cireunistances the Eagle never
followed directly down upon the fish but dropped below it and
turned over to seize it as it came to him.

Leaving the Fish Hawk's nest, we gained the road at the top
of a sandy ridge and walked along through the oak woods, see-
ing and hearing numerous familiar species. A few Redstarts
vet remained, and several House Wrens were singing merrily in
tlie woods. The following day we heard them in another wood,
and 1 recalled that at Lewes, several years previous, I had found
this bird in similar situations. Coming out into the open field,
several Henslow's Sparrows were calling "switch it," their
notes having a decided ventriloqual effect, or at least seemed to
come from much nearer at hand than they really did.

After doing justice to an excellent breakfast, we inspected the
grounds about the hotel and chatted with a gunner who landed
nearby after an earl}' trip to the marshes where he had bagged
seven Greater Yellowlegs over decoys. He showed us his semi-
domesticated Black Duck sitting under a bunch of grass, close
under a tree containing a Fish Hawk's nest, forty or fifty feet
back from the bay shore. He thought she was covering eleven
or twelve eggs, but she did not seem disturbed at our presence.
The drake and another duck were swimming out on the bay.
The gunner told us of the unusual abundance last spring of
Curlews, which from his description were, I judged, Hudsonian
Godwits, and I saw a pair of that species at Rehoboth about the
middle of May, 1906.

Shirt-tailer seems to be the vernacular for the Red-headed
Woodpecker here as well as about Millsboro, where Mr. Rhoads
and I first heard it. Scroggin and Flying Fox are names for
the Bittern, although the former name may apply to a Heron.

36 PROCEEDINGS OP TUB

possibly an immature Night Heron. Going out to examine the
Geese, I found the old pair had built a nest of grass close by
tlie three-foot board fence. It was on the dry ground, quite a
bulky aiiair, two feet across at the base and nearly a foot high.
As I walked around in the direction of the nest the old gander,
who seemed to stand sentinel on the bank fifty yards away, slid
oS into the water, swam to his mate, and met me with out-
stretched neck and wide-open mouth. I kept the fence between
us, and he stood beside the nest hissing at me and calling out
with a loud mellow note and frequently biting ard pulling at
the old goose as if to urge her to leave. She finally stood up,
showing five eggs, but gave no indication of any intention to
retreat. Both birds had a downward swinging motion of the
head and neck, not rapid, but frequently repeated, that brought
the throat in touch with the breast, then the head was quickly
niised again to about the full extent of the neck and the " honk
konk" Wiis uttered, or 1 was derided with a "hiss." The pen
contained three other Canada Geese that kept together, well off
from the nest, and I was told that the old gander did not allow
them nor the Wild Ducks to approach the nesting bird. These
other three Geese had been reared by the same pair of old birds,
the year previous, in this same pen. So far as I could note
they were full-grown birds in adult plumage, but it was the
opinion there that they will not breed imtil their third year.
Five eggs had been the set of the previous year, four of which
had hatched, but one of the goslings had early met with a fatal
accident. We were told that wild geese frequently came down
iind rested in this pen, attracted by the imprisoned birds that
were kept in bounds by occasionally shortening the primaries.

After dinner we took a twenty-five foot gasoline launch and
went out to the inlet, two and a half miles distant as the Crow
tlies, but by channel lengthened to seven or eight miles. The
doctor and our boatman tried the fishing, first in the " dreen "
as our friends called the narrow tidal creek, and later went out
on the ocean front and cast for rock fish, while 1 beat the
marshes half a mile back from the ocean. Bird life here was
not very rich in species. Cover, except for a few small bushes,
was wanting, the season was backward, and the grass and reeds

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 37

had made but little growth. Both of the tidal sparrows were
plentiful. The Seasides were singing, and I found a nest under
construction that I concluded was of that bird. It was about
eighteen inches up from the ground and attache<l to the stems
of some reeds or coarse grass of a previous year's growth. A
single Marsh Hawk came quartering over the meadows, whirl-
ing and dropping suddenly when some attractive bit caught his
eye. I needed a specimen of a Clapper Rail, and spent a good
deal of time beating the borders of the smaller creeks for a long
time without success. I had about decided to give it up and go
over to the sand dunes and beach when as I passed around the
end of a small creek one flushed from my feet, and was secured.

I found few birds on the beach, which was separated from
the grassy marsh by a sand dune in places fifteen to twenty feet
high, cut through in many places by wind and tide. Bam
Swallows were numerous. I saw a few Bank Swallows and one
or two Tree Swallows, and right at the inlet, which is not over
two hundred yards across, and the only opening f<ir the broad
waters of Rehoboth and Indian River Bays, I counted thirty-
five Ospreys busily fishing. Occasionally one would go off in-
land with a load, or another would alight on shore, back a short
distance inland to lunch. The poles of the telephone line con-
necting the two nearest life-saving stations seemed to be favorite
resting-places in the absence of trees. My companions were on
the opposite side of the inlet, and as I walked back to meet the
boat they were sending for me, I saw a flock of ten or more
Red-breasted Mergansers, and the next morning early two of
the larger species of Merganser flew over me at very close range.
The date seemed rather late, I thought. Several Solitary and
numerous Spotted Sandpipers were feeding along the m.irgins
of the stream, the former singly, the other in small bunches.
Several flocks of Least Sandpipers were seen, and a bunch of
eight or ten of an unidentified Sandpiper went by out of range.

As I watched the fi.shermen, two Black-headed Gulls went up
the coast well out to sea. They seemed intent on going north-
ward, and kept their course steadily. Our boatmen were not
familiar with them as nesting thereabouts, and I saw no others
and no Terns. This was the immediate locality where I shot
the Forster's Tern two years previously.

38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

As we returned homeward we raised a pair of Black Ducks
close in-shore, as we followed the channel by an island. These
birds must nest commonly throughout the State, both on the
salt and fresh marshes, as I have seen them frequently in pairs
or singly in May and June from Rehoboth to Odessa. A single
Night Hawk was hunting his supper overhead as we tied up to
the dock at seven o'clock. We heard no Whip-poor-wills on
this trip, but they are reported as abundant, and as stated I
have heard them on the north shore of the bay back of Rehoboth.

After supper we chatted with our two boatmen, who were
both ardent gunners. One a lad of under twenty had shot a
Swan the previous winter, but they both said these birds were
extremely rare thereabouts and only occasionally seen.

Brant or "Black Brant" as they call them are rather com-
mon, they told us, and White Brant are seen almost every
winter, and are sometimes shot. I suppose this is the Greater
Snow Goose, a species not abundant on the Atlantic coast north
of Virginia, but which has previously been recorded from Dela-
ware.

White-winged Coots and Buzzard Coots, which I take to he
Scoters, are said to be more or less abundant during the colder
weather. They recognize two forms of the Black Duck, and
say the smaller or Nigger Black Duck occasionally nests with
them, while the other, Red-paddle they style it, is larger, and
never stops over to breed, which agrees entirely with the recog-
nized habits of the two forms, I believe. Carrying out the plan
made that evening, we were up and out at five o'clock next
morning and walked to some fine tracts of pine timber near the
south side of the bay. A strong, cold northwest wind continued
all morning, and it proved a poor time to observe birds. Occa-
sionally we found a sheltered nook, and noticed that a few
Warblers yet lingered. Pine Warblers were singing and prob-
ably preparing to nest. Several Myrtle Warblers were seen, and
an Indigo Bird and Scarlet Tanager were heard singing. A
solitary Acadian Flycatcher and a p.air of Ovenbirds were
seen and heard. I was much disappointed that the cold wind
continued, as this was our last chance to look up the birds,
and in such weather there was not much to be seen. Com-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 39

ing out into some farm land a pair of American Mergansers
were seen at quite close range, evidently making a short cut
from the ocean or a creek below to the bay back of the woods.
They were so close we could see the form of bill and general
markings. Along by an orchard we saw a pair of Kingbirds,
and Orchard Orioles were singing merrily. After breakfast a
few specimens were skinned, and then we found our time was
up and we had to pack and make ready for our long drive to
Frankford.

List of Birds Observed in the Indian River Region
Delaware *

Fodilymbus podiceps, Pied-billed Grebe. M., Oct. (20); Dec,
1904 (2).

Colymbus auritus, Horned Grebe. M., Oct., 1903 (sev. ); Oct.,
1904 (2).

Colymbus holbcelli, Holboell's Grebe. M., Dec, 1904.

Gaviaimber, Loon. M., Oct., 1903 (2); Oct., 1904 (sev.).

Larus argenlatus, Herring Gull. M., Oct., 1903 (sev.); Oct.
(30) and Dec, 1904 (25).

Larus atricilla, Laughing Gull. O. V.

Larus Philadelphia, Bonaparte's Gull. M., Oct., 1903 (6);
Oct., 1904 (3).

Sterna forsteri, Forster's Tern. M., May, 1905 (2).

Anas boschas, Mallard. M., Dec, 1901 (6).

Anasobscura, Black Duck. M., Dec, 1904 (5); May, 1905 (2);
0. V.

Anas obs. rubripes, Red-legged Bl^ck Duck. M., May, 1905.

Aixsponsa, Wood Duck. M., Oct., 1903 (30).

Aythya americana, Redhead. M., Oct. (3); Dec, 1904 (10).

Aythya marila, Scaup Duck. M., Oct., 1903 (100); Oct.,
1904 (sev.).

Charitonetta albeola, Bufflehead. M., Oct., 1903 (2).

• M=Millsboro. Dates of trips, Oct. 30, 1903 (17 species noted); Oct. 28,
1904 (23 species); Dec. 5-6, 1904 (14 species); May 13-15, 1905 (73 species).
O. V.=Ocean View. May 19-20, 1907 (67 species). Single birds noted at
Millsboro except where numbers are added in parenthesis. Relative abund-
ance of species seen at Ocean View may be ascertained from text. Total
species observed, 112.

40 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Clangula hyemalis, Oldsquaw. M., Oct., 1904.

Erismalura jamaicensis, Ruddy Duck. M., Oct., 1903 (sev.);
Oct. (20), Dec, 1904 (30); 0. V.

Merganser americanus, American Merganser. M., May, 1905.

Merganser serrator, Red-breasted Merganser. M., Oct., 1903
(6);0. V.

Botaurus lentiginosus, American Bittern. M., May, 1905 (1).

Ardea herodias, Great Blue Heron. M., Dec, 1904 (1).

Butorides virescens, Green Heron. M., May, 1905 (2); 0. V.

Rallies crepitans, Clapper Rail. 0. V.

Fidica americana, American Coot. M., Oct., 1904 (3).

Philohela minor, Woodcock. M., May, 1905 (1).

Tringa minulilla. Least Sandpiper. 0. V.; M., May, 1905.

Toianus melanoleucus, Greater Yellowlegs. M., May, 1905 (8);
O. V.

Totamis flavipes, Yellowlegs. M., May, 1905 (3).

Helodromas solitarius, Solitary Sandpiper. M., May, 1905 (1),
O. V.

Aetitis macularia, Spotted Sandpiper. M., May, 1905 (3);
0. V.

Ozyechus vorJferus, Killdeer. M., Oct., 1903 (1); Oct., 1904
(12); 0. V.

Colinus virginiamis, Bobwhite. M., Oct., 1904 (12).

Zenaidura macroura, Dove. M., Oct., 1903 (1); Oct., 1904
(50); 0. V.

Cathartes aura, Turkey Vulture. 0. V., May, 1907; M. ;
May, 1905 (com.).

Circus hudsonius, Marsh Hawk. O. V., Oct., 1904 (1); 0. V.

Accipiter velox, Sliarp-shinned Hawk. M., Oct., 1904; May,
1905.

Halixetus leucocephalus, Bald Eagle. M., Oct., 1903; Oct.
and Dec, 1904; May, 1905.

Pandion haliae.lus carolinensis, Fish Hawk. M., May. 1905
(com.); 0. V.

Goccyzus americanus. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. M., May, 1905;
0. V.

Cenjle alcyon, Belted Kingfisher. M., Oct. and Dec, 1904; O. V.

Melnnerpes erythrocephalus, Redheaded Woodpecker. M., May,
1905.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 41

Colaptes auratus luteus, Flicker. M., May, 1905 (sev. J; 0. V.

Antrostomus vociferus, Whip-poor-will. M., May, 1905 (sev.).

Chordeiles virginiamis, Nighthawk. M., May, 1905 (2); 0. V.

Chaeturn pelagica, Chimney Swift. M., May, 1905 (abund.);
0. V.

Tyr annus tyr annus, Kingbird. M., May, 1905 (2); 0. V.

Myiarchus crinilus, Crested Flycatcher. M., May, 1905 (sev.);
O. V.

Sayornis phosbe, Phoebe. M., May, 1905 (3).

Contopus virens, Wood Pewee. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Empidonax virescens, Green-crested Flycatcher. M., May,
1905; 0. V.

CyanociUa crislata, Blue Jay. M., May, 1905 (sev.); O. V.

Corvus brachyrhynchos, Crow. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Comfs ossij'ragus, Fish Crow. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Bobolink. M., May, 1905. 0. V.

Molothrus ater, Cowbird. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Agelaius phoenkem, Red winged Blackbird. M., May, 1905
(com.); O. V.

Slurnella magna, Meadow Lark. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Icterus spur ivs, Orchard Oriole. M., May, 1905 (4); 0. V.

Ictervs galbida, Baltimore Oriole. M., May, 1905 (sev.); O. V.

Qiiiscalus qii.iscula, Purple Grackle. M., Oct. (200), Dec,

1904 (7); May, 1905; O. V.

Astrayalinus tristis. Goldfinch. M., May, 1905 (sev.); O. V.

Pomcetes gram.ineus, Vespi-r Sparrow. M. , May, 1905(3).

Zonotrichia albicollis, White-throated Sparrow. M., Oct.. 1904
(sev).

Coturnir.ulns p. savannarum, Grasshopper Sparrow. O. V.

Amniodramus henslowi, Henslow's Sparrow. M., May, 1905
(3); 0. V.

Ammodramus caudacutus, Sharp-tailed Sparrow. M., May,

1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Ammodramus maritimus, Seaside Sparrow. M., May, 1905
(sev.); O. V.

Spizella socialis, Chipping Sparrow. M., May, 1905 (sev.);
0. V.

Spizella piisilla, Field Sparrow. M., May, 1905 (sev.); O. V.

42 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Melospiza cinerea melodia, Song Sparrow. M., abundant; 0. V.

Pipilo erylhrophthalmus, Chewink. M., Oct., 1903 (1); 0. V.

Cardinalis cardinalis, Cardinal. M., May, 1905 (2); 0. V.

Passerina cyanea, Indigo Bird. M. , May, 1905 (sev. ); 0. V.

Piranga erythromelas, Scarlet Tanager. 0. V.

Piranga rubra, Summer Tanager. M., May, 1905.

Hirundo erythrogastra, Barn Swallow. M., May, 1905 (sev.);
0. V.

Riparia riparia, Bank Swallow. M., May, 1905 (sev. ).

Iridoprocne hicolor, Tree Swallow. M., May, 1905 (5); 0. V.

Prague subis, Purple Martin. M., May, 1905 (5).

Vireo olivaceus. Red-eyed Vireo. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Vireogilvus, Warbling Vireo. M., May, 1905 (2); 0. V.

Vireo flavifro lis, Yellow-throated Vireo. M., JMay, 1905 (sev.).

Vireo noveboracensis, White-eyed Vireo. M., May, 1905 (sev.).

Mniutilla varia, Black-and-white Warbler. M., May, 1905
(sev.).

Dendroica aestiva, Yellow Warbler. M., May, 1905 (sev.);
0. V.

Dendroica coronata, Myrtle Warbler. 0. V.

Dendroica coeridea, Cerulean Warbler. M., May, 1905 (2).

Dendroica pensylvanica, Chestnut-sided Warbler. 0. V.

Dendroica vigorsii, Pine Warbler. M., May, 1905 (com.);
0. V.

Dendroica discolor, Prairie Warbler. M., May, 1905 (sev.).

Dendroica striata, Black-poll Warbler. M., May, 1905 (3);
0. V.

Seiurus auricapillus, Ovenbird. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Qeothlypis trichas, Maryland Yellowthroat. M., May, 1905
(com.); 0. V.

kleria virens. Yellow-breasted Chat. M., May, 1905 (sev.).

Setophaga ruticilla, Redstart. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Mimus polyglottos, Mockingbird. M. , Oct., 1903 (1); May,
1905.

Toxostoma rufum, Brown Thrasher. M., May, 1905 (sev.);
0. V.

Galeoacoptes carolinensis. Catbird. M., May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Telmatodytes palustris. Long-billed Marsh Wren. M., May,
1905 (sev.); O. V.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 43

'Ihryothorus ludovicianus, Carolina Wren. M., Oct., 1904;
May, 1905 (sev.); 0. V.

Troglodytes aedon, House Wren. M., May, 1905 (5); 0. V.

Olbiorchilus hiemalis, Winter Wren. M., Oct., 1904 (1).

Certhiaf. americana, Brown Creeper. M., Oct., 1903 (1).

Sitta carolinensis, White-breasted Nuthatch. M., Oct., 1903
(2).

Dneolophus hi color, Tufted Titmouse. M., May, 1905; 0. V.

Penthestes carolinensis, Carolina Chickadee. M. Oct., Dec,
1904 (2) ; 0. V.

Polioptila cocrtilen, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. M., May, 1905.

Regulns calendula, Ruby-crowned Knight. M., Oct., 1903 (1).

Regulits satrapa. Golden-crowned Knight. M., Dec, 1904 (3).

Hylocir.hla mustelina, Wood Thrush. M., May, 1905.

Hylocichla fuscescens, Wilson's Thrush. M.. May, 1905.

Merula migratoria, Robin. M., Dec, 1904; 0. V.

Sialiasialis, Bluebird. M., May, 1905 (3); 0. V.

A Pensauken Diary

BY CHRESWELL J. HUNT

The tributaries of the lower Delaware on the New Jersey side
are tide-water streams. There are mostly high, wooded banks
on the north side, with an expanse of alder swamp and spat-
terdock marsh on the other, which is more or less covered by
the high tides.

Such a stream is Pensauken Creek. This creek forms a part
of the boundary line between Burlington and Camden Counties,
New Jersey. Both branches rise near the little settlement of
Evesboro in Burlington County and wind in crooked northerly
courses for some ten miles when they unite at Fork's Landing.
Then the creek turns and flows more to the west, emptying into
the Delaware near Palmyra.

For some eight miles it is navigable for a small boat. Here
the fishermen find fairly good sport, and the ornithologist finds
birds in abundance. During the past four years I have been on
this creek in all seasons and weathers and at all hours of the
day and night, and at all times — whether the tide was at ebb or
flood, whether it was midday or midnight — I have found birds.

In the fringes of woodland which here and there skirt the
creek the chestnut oak predominates, while several other oaks,
Jersey pine, beech, sycamore, chestnut, ash, sour gum, per-
simmon, hackberry and red maple are abundant. In some
places the banks are covered with thickets of alder, button-bush,
arrow- wood, Viburnum dentatum, and sweet pepperbush, over
which clambers a tangle of green brier, making an ideal retreat
for Cardinals, Brown Thrashers and Catbirds.

No matter how often we visit this creek we shall never find it
the same. The tide will be different if nothing else is, and
when one is limited to weekly visits these changes are most
striking. To-day we may paddle with ease over the marshes

(44)

VIEWS OF PENSAUKEN CREEK, N. J.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 45

where we walked about last week with dry feet. Thus a trip
to the.5e marshes is alwnys savored with the thought of a new
discovery, and one rarely returns disappointed.

There are no extensive patches of woodland along the creek.
For the most part there is merely a fringe of trees. Go a short
distance back at almost any point, and we come directly to cul-
tivated fields and orchards, and in many places these come
right down to the creek bank.

But the marshes of the upper creek are wilder to-day than
they were a score of years ago, and are looked upon by the
farmer as a " has been." Thirty years ago these marshes were
well ditched; there were high banks furnished with flood-gates,
and hay was harvested where now there is an expanse of wild-
rice and alder thickets. The flood-gates are gone, and what re-
mains of the banks is fast disappearing. The lower creek, too,
may be considered a thing of the past; that is commercially.
Up to five years ago there were a good many canal-boats towed
up as far as the little village of Parry, where they were loaded
with building sand taken from the creek's bank. Since the
abandonment of this industry, the creek is given over entirely
to the fishermen, gunners and pleasure craft, with the exception
of an occasional scow, laden with fertilizer, which is drifted up
with the tide. The old sand banks near Parry are of interest,
as here is found quite a colony of Bank and Rough-winged
Swallows. The Kingfisher also finds here a good nesting
ground.

The marshes of the upper creek furnish favorite feeding
grounds for the Great Blue, Green and Night Herons, and dur-
ing the spring and fall great numbers of Sandpipers, Yellowlegs,
etc., are to be found.

I believe that we find more marked changes with the seasons
in a fresh tide-water marsh than anywhere else. During Jan-
uary and February these marshes are rather desolate-looking
places, covered as they are with the remnants of last year's
aquatic vegetation. At this season, however, they are the
hunting grounds of the big Hawks, while Grebes and Wild
Ducks may be found about the creek. A few Kingfishers
usually spend the winter, and during the winter of 1906-7 a

46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Great Blue Heron stayed throughout the entire season. Then
when the creek is under ice and the niar^lies snow covered, the
Crows congregate there by hundreds.

The first warm touch of spring seems to sink deeper into the
marsh than elsewhere. The plants push their young leaves
rapidly forward, and after the first of April what changes tran-
spire within a week ! One can almost see the spatter-dock and
water arum (Peltandra) grow. Before we can realize it the
marsh is again green with pointed leaves, tussocks of muskrat-
grass and clumps of calamus, while the banks are carpeted with
violets and a white flower of the mustard family, and in damp
places the marsh marigold attracts our attention. Now thf
Redwings make merry and the Swamp Sparrows sing all day
and most of the night, while Warblers throng the thickets.

Almost before we know it, and long ere we are ready, the
scene has changed. The marshes are now a wealth of wild
roses, to which clumps of viburnums, with a profusion of white
bloom form a fitting background. Now the Long-billed Marsh
Wrens are busy building their many nests, and Least Bitterns
skulk about among the cat-tails and wild rice.

Again, what a change I We now look across a moving sea of
blue — the blossoms of the pickerel-weed {Pontederia) — a floral
disj)lay unequaled save by that of the thousands of pink and
white mallow blossoms as seen from our cabin doorway in
August. Now when on the creek we are hemmed in by walls
of the wild rice, and if we notice the Peltandra we will find that
already it is sticking its own seeds deep down in the mud.
Swamp Sparrows and Marsh Wrens furnish the only bird music
that comes from the marsh. As we listen to them we hear a
faint " pink, pink," and we reahze that the first Bobolinks have
arrived, and only a few days remain before the gunner will take
possession of the marshes.

Up to now the aquatic vegetation has been advancing almost
steadily. The first crop of spatter-dock leaves died down
about the middle of July, but the second croji is now at its best.
With the advent of the gunners a decline begins. The gunners
make this more noticeable by tramping down the fields of wild
rice, so that we can now see the distant bank with its persimmon

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 47

trees, now leafless but laden with little golden spheren — "plucns
of the gods" — then with the frosts and the high autnmn tides
the marshes are once more the abode of desolation.

From my year's journal I quote some of the more interesting
bird notes:

April 15, 1907. — Found a Cardinal's nest, containing three
eggs, in a small laurel. On April 29 there was only one young
bird in the nest. Another Cardinal's nest in greenbrier tangle
containing three eggs, and by April 22d three young birds.
Also a Mourning Dove's nest and two eggs, one of which
hatched by April 22d, and on April 29th the two young birds
were about half grown.

April 21st. — Saw a good many large flocks of Goldfinches.
They are beginning to show a few j'ellow feathers interspersed
among the olive of their backs. They seemed rather noisy,
and a few were singing this morning. An Osprey put in an ap-
pearance to-day. A pair of these birds spent the summer of
1905 about here. Where did they nest?

April 22d. — Cardinal's nest in greenbrier with three eggs,
which had hatched by April 29th.

April 27th.— A pair of Carolina Chickadees were carrying
feathers into a hole in a button-bush stub. Found a Bluebird's
nest and four eggs in a small cherry tree in the orchard.

April 29th. — Found a Vesper Sparrow's nest on the ground
in a pear orchard containing four eggs.

April SOlh. — A considerable number of Bank Swallows were
going in and out of their nesting holes in the sand tiank.

May Uh- — Heard a Robin utter a shrill note at 9:30 p. m.

May 6lh. Foundations for a Yellow Warbler's nest just
started. Also found a Song Sparrow's nest with five eggs. A
White-eyed Vireo was seen carrying nesting material. Foun-
dations for nest started in viburnum bu.sh some four feet from
the ground.

May 7th. — Another Yellow Warbler's nest started and a com-
pleted nest found.

May 11th. — Late this afternoon I saw a Maryland Yellow-
throat mount into the air, from the top of an alder, with a burst
of song. He flew to quite a height and poured forth his melody

48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

— a lot of twitters ending with the familiar " Wlchery, wichery,
wichery" — then he dived earthward and disappeared among
the vegetation of the marsh.

May 26th. — A Least Bittern was singing this afternoon. Al-
though these birds are common, this is but the second tune I
have heard the song in these marshes. Perhaps I was not here
before at the right time.

May 27lh. — I was drifting along in my boat at 10:30 p. m.
Everything was quiet, when all at once a Yellow-breasted Cliat
burst forth with a volume of scold notes. Something had dis-
turbed his slumbers.

May 28th. — Found a Least Bittern's nest with five slightly in-
cubated eggs.

May 29th. — Found a domestic duck's nest out in the marsh.
The nest was built of the dead stalks of aquatic plants and well
lined with down, which partly covered the ten eggs. To all
appearances it was like the nest of a wild duck.

May 30th. — Two Yellow Warbler's nests found, each contain-
ing four eggs. Also a Blue Jay's nest with four well- fledged
young. Saw an American Bittern to-day. It certainly looks
as if he were a breeder hereabouts.

June 15lh. — Was standing in front of our cabin when a Vir-
ginia Rail crossed our ditch and disappeared among the spat-
ter-docks, where it uttered some cluck notes and out came four
young Rails, and one by one they swam the ditch. About five
minutes after they had disappeared a weasel made his appear-
ance from almost the very spot where the young Rails had
entered the marsh. Luckily he was traveling in the other
direction.

June 22d. — While going along in my boat this evening I
flushed several Kingfishers from bushes overhanging the water.
On several occasions I have flushed them after dark from such
places. It would seem that they roost there. Just at dusk a
Whip-poor-will sang. This is my only summer record for Pen-
sauken.

July 8th. Have been throwing crumbs to a pair of Catbirds
which have a nest somewhere near the cabin, and they have
grown 80 tame that whenever I put in an appearance they come

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 49

almost within reach. A white-footed mouse, which has taken
up quarters under the cabin, has also gotten the habit of forag-
ing for cracker crumbs.

July 9th. — Flushed a Black Duck on the upper creek. Can
this bird nest among these marshes? Twice to-day I saw a
Yellow Warbler in pursuit of a Kingfisher. Found both King-
birds and Yellow Warblers feeding upon a black slug that in-
fests the leaves of the spatter-dock.

July SOlh. — Bobwhites were whistling this afternoon. This
bird seems to be increasing about here. This evening I saw a
mink swim across the creek.

July 21st-22d. — Spent the night on the creek. Marsh Wrens
sang at intervals, and at eleven o'clock a Swamp Sparrow sang
with much vim. At 11: 30 a Cuckoo called. By midnight the
last-quarter moon was just appearing above the trees, and a
Screech Owl welcomed it with a mournful wail. Just before
dawn a Spotted Sandpiper flew past with a whistle. The first
bird to usher in the day was the Song Sparrow, then followed
the Swamp Sparrow, then the Kingbird, then the House Wren,
Cardinal, Redwing, Wood Thrush, Carolina Wren and White-
eyed Vireo in order.

August ISth. — This afternoon I had the luck to be out in a
very heavy thunderstorm. It had been a warm day and the
birds were not very active. I stood upon the bank watching
the approach of the storm. Great numbers of butterflies
{Annsia and Papilio), which had been clinging listlessly to the
pontederia blossoms or fluttering lazily across the marsh, now
sought shelter among the leaves of the chestnut oaks along the
bank. Just before the storm broke a large flock of Red-winged
Blackbirds circled round and settled down in the marsh. If
not upon the ground they were certainly close to it, not one
being in sight. For over half an hour the rain fell in torrents,
the wind blew, leveling the wild rice, and the lightning zigzagged
its way across the sky. When the storm passed and the sun
shone forth once more, these Redwings were to be seen perched
upon the bent stalks of the wild rice spreading their wings and
tails and drying off. Why did these birds take refuge in the
open marsh ? The thickets along the bank would seem to have
furnished a better shelter.

50 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

August 19th. — The Redwings are now going about in flocks.
The immature plumage predominates. Most flocks seem to
have one or two adult males, the rest being females and birds
of the j'ear.

August Z5lh. — ^larj-land Yellowthroat, Indigo Bird, Swamp
Sparrow, Wood Pewee, and Tufted Tit still in song.

September 10th. — Gunners showed me two Sora Rails which
they had just taken.

September 30th. — One of the boys shot a Pied-billed Grebe
this morning. A single Marsh Wren heard singing to-day.

October 15th. — Now the Robins congregate in large flocks in
the sour gums to feed upon the purple berries. Swamp Spar-
rows still in song. Saw quite a number of Pied-billed Grebes.
Watched three for some time. Saw one of them catch and eat
a small eel. Also saw a Coot (Fkilicn) among a small flock of
domestic ducks. It took wing ver}' reluctantly.

October 27th. — Night and Great Blue Herons still about the
marshes.

November Sd. — With the last week of August the Cardinal be-
comes inconspicuous. How he manages to conceal himself so
well I am unable to say, but certain it is if you want to see
Cardinals during September and October you have to search for
them. Perhaps the gunners are his reason for keeping under
cover. To-daj', however, Cardinals were much in evidence. I
counted twenty brilliant males in sight at one time.

November 18th. — Beside our boat-house stan.ls a willow.
To-day at dusk I saw a Downy Woodpecker climbing about in
it, occasionally calling. At last he worked out to the end of a
broken limb, disappeared, and all was quiet. On going to the
tree and throwing a stick against the limb, he came out in a
hurry. He had evidently taken up his quarters for the night
in a hole in the end of the broken limb.

November 19th. — Heard a Screech Owl hooting at 3:30 p. m.
Large hawks are becoming common about the marshes.

November S3d. — A small flock of Redwings is still about.

November 26th. — A Northern Shrike put in an aj)pearance to-
day. Also saw a Mallard drake in company with a flock of
domestic ducks. We approached within fifty feet before he
took wing. A few Killdeers are about the marshes.

NEST OF RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD IN PELTANDRA
PENSAUKEN CREEK, N. J,

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 51

December 8th. — Heard a lianimering which I took to be a
Downy Woodpecker, but upon reaching tlie s^pot I found that
the noise was made by a Tufted Tit, which was picking away
at a piece of bark, and thereby producing a noise that any
Woodpecker might well have been proud of.

December lOlh — George Sperber sliot a Night Heron iu the
immature phimage. I think they spend the winter here occa-
sionally.

December 24th. — Saw a Marsh Hawk about the creek to-day.

Summer Birds of Pensauken Creek
(Those marked ♦ have actually been found breeding.)

Anas obscura, Black Duck.

Aix sjwnsa, Wood Duck.

Botaurus lentiginosuis, American Bittern.
*ArdeUa exilis, Least Bittern.

Ardea hcrodlas, Great Blue Heron.
*Butorides virescens, Little Green Heron.

Nycticorax nycticorax nxvius, Black-crowned Night Heron.
*Rallus virginianus, Virginia Rail.

PIdlohela minor, Woodcock.
*Actitis macularia, Spotted Sandpiper.

Oxyechus vocifcrits, Killdeer.

Colinus virginianus, Bobwhite.
*Zenaidura macroura, Mourning Dove.

Cathartes aura, Turkey Vulture.

Circus hudsonius, ^larsh Hawk.

Accipiter velox, Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Accipiter cooperi. Cooper's Hawk.
*Falco sparvei-ivs, Sparrow Hawk.

Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, Osprey.
*Megascops asio, Screech Owl.
*Coccyzus amcricanus, Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
*Ceryle alcyon, Belted Kingfisher.
*Dryobates pubesceiis medinnns, Downy Woodpecker.

Melanerpes erylhrocephalas. Red-headed Woodpecker.
*Colaptes auratus luteus. Flicker.

Antrostomus vociferus. Whip-poor-will.

52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Chorddles virginiamis, Nighthawk.
*Chnetura pelagicn, Chimney Swift.

Trochilus mluhrw, Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
*Tyrannus tyrannvs, Kingbird.
*Myiarchu8 criiiHus, Crested Flycatcher.
*Sayornis phoehe, Phoebe.
*Cbntopu8 virens, Wood Pewee.
*OyanociUa cristata, Blue Jay.
*Corvus brachyrhynchos, American Crow.

Corvus ossifragus, Fish Crow.
*Molothrus nter, Cowbird.
*Agelaiiis phomiceus, Red-winged Blackbird.
*Sturnella magna, Meadowlark.
*Icterus spurius, Orchard Oriole.
* Icterus galbula, Baltimore Oriole.
*Quiscalus quiscula. Purple Grackle.
*Astragalmus Iristk, Goldfinch.
*Po(xcetes gramineus, Vesper Sparrow.
*SpizeUa socialis. Chipping Sparrow.
*Spizella piisilln, Field Sparrow.
'*Melospiza cinerea melodia, Song Sparrow.
*Melospiza georgiana, Swamp Sparrow.
*P>pilo erythrophthalmus, Chewink.
*Cardinalis cnrdinalitt, Cardinal.

Oyanospiza cyanea, Indigo Bunting.
*Piranga erythrmnelns, Scarlet Tanager.
*Hirundo erythrugitxtrn. Barn Swallow.
*Riparia riparia, Bank Swallow.
*Stelgidopteryx serripennis, Rough-winged Swallow.

Avipelit cedrorum, Cedar Waxwing.
*-Vireo olivace.un, Red-eyed Vireo.
*Vireo novehoracenmn, \A'hite-eyed Vireo.

Mniotilta varia, Black and \\'hite Warbler.
*Dendroica sestiva, Yellow Warbler.
*Seiuru$ aurocapUJufi, Ovenbird.
*Geothlypis trichiis, Maryland Yellowthroat.

Icleria virens, Yellow-breasted Chat.
*Galeoscoptes carolinenm, Catbird.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 53

*Toxostoma ntfum, Brown Thrasher.
*Thryothorm ludovicianus, Carolina Wren.
*Troglodytes aedon, House Wren.
*Telr)iatodyles palustris, Long-billed Marsh Wren.
Sitta carolinmsis, White-breasted Nuthatch.
*Baeolophus bicolor, Tufted Titmouse.
*Penthestes carolinensis, Carolina Chickadee.
*Hylocichla mustelina, Wood Thrush.
*Merula migratoria, Robin.
*Sialia sialis, Bluebird.

Report on the Spring Migration of 1907

COMPILED BY WITMER STONE

The excellent work of the Migration Corps has been continued
during 1907, making the seventh yearly record uf the Spring
Migration in the neighborhood of Philadelphia and at other
points in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The importance of the work increases yearly, and we trust
that all our observers will continue their labor during the coming
Bprhig with the same care that has been exercised during previous
seasons. It is desirable, especially in the case of the commoner
species, that two dates of arrival be recorded where the first
arrival was a single early straggler preceding by a number of
days the next record.

Schedules covering the spring flight of 1907 were received
from the following sixty-three stations:*

Neiv Jersey.
Cape May, H. Walker Hand.
Vineland, Mrs. Alice K. Prince.
Downstown (near Newfield), W. \V. Fair.
Yardville, Rachel E. Allinson.
Trenton, C. C. and R. M. Abbott.
Princeton, Chas. H. Rogers.
Bordentown, Minnie V. Flynn.
Beverly, J. Fletcher Street.
Burlington, Helen F. Carter.
Rancocas, Emily Haines.
Moorestown, Anna A. Mickle.

Moorestown, Wm. B. Evans and Dr. S. S. Haines.
Pensauken, C. J. Hunt.

♦Applications for blani; schedules and for information slioiild be addressed
to Mr. Thos. D. Keim, 405 Kadcliffe St., Bristol, Pa., who will superintend
this branch of the Club's work for the season of 190S.

(54)

DKLAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

Pennsylvania.
Keniiett Square, Charles J. Pennock.
Meiidenhall, Wm. Carter and wife.
Concordville, Mrs. K. R. Slyer.
Concordville. Jos. H. Willits.
NVesttown, Chas. W. Palmer and students.
Swarthinore, Samuel C. Palmer.
Swarthmore, Pavid E. Harrower.
Lansdowne, John D. Carter.
Lansdowne, Louisa M. Jacob.
Lansdowne, Anna D. White.
Lansdowne, Friends' School.
Lansdowne, W. R. White.
Lansdowne, Ethel A. Shrigley.
Collingdale, Paul L. Lorrilliere.
Media, Lydia G. Allen.
Media, Philip H. Moore.
Media, Alice Fussell.
Media, Ellen Fussell.
Ardmore, Wm. L. Baily.
Haverford, M. Albert Linton.
Radnor Twp., A. C. Redfield.
Radnor Twp., John Patton.
Radnor Twp., L. S. Pearson.
Bryn Mawr, Emily H. Thomas.
Wissahickon, John R. Pickering.
Germantown, Paul C. Brewer, Jr.
Germantown, Thos. R. Hill.
Germantown, Mrs. Thos. R. Hill.
Germantown, Miriam F. Solis-Cohen.
Chestnut Hill, Wm. H. Trotter.
West Fairmount Park, Elmer Onderdonk.
OIney, George S. Morris.
Oak Lane, John W. Allen.
Melrose Park, Saml. H. Barker.
Frankford, Richard F. Miller.
Fox Chase, Ale.xander Patman.
Holmesburg, H. W. Fowler.

56 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Bristol, Thomas D. Keim and Sidney V. Morris.

Glenside and Edge Hill, Richard C. Harlow.

Fort Wasliington, James L. Camblos.

Woodbourne, Edward Pickering, Jr.

George School, Students.

George School, Wm. E. Roberts.

George School, Jesse Packer.

George School, Robt. E. Atkinson.

Easton, Edw. J. F. Marx.

Perkasie, Albert C. Rutter.

Columbia, Wm. F. Rochow.

Marietta, W. H. Duller.

Lopez, Otto Behr.

Particular interest attaches to the migration of 1907 on ac-
count of the unusual weather that prevailed during April and
May, unprecedented within the memory of most of our ob-
servers.

February was noteworthy in showing no evidence of migra-
tion. The flight of Purple Grackles, Redwings and Robins
which usually marks the latter part of the month, was entirely
lacking.

March, in most respects, was nearly normal. The mean tem-
perature for the month at Philadelphia was 44°, four degrees
above the mean of the past thirty-seven j'ears, while the rain-
fall (including snow) was less than usual. There were three
marked increases in temperature during the month, the mean
daily temperature increasing fourteen degrees between the 1st
and 2d, twenty degrees between the 12th and 14th, twenty-six
degrees between the 21st and 23d and thirty degrees between
the 26th and 29th. On the last date the maximum was 86°,
the highest March temperature registered at Philadelphia diiring
the thirty-seven j-ears covered by the Weather Bureau's record.
This was followed by a fall of forty degrees, from a mean tem-
perature of 74° on March 29th to 34° on April 1st.

We have then in March four daj-s upon which marked in-
creases in temperature reached their ma.ximum, /. e., March 2d,
14th, 23rd, 29th. Such days are generally followed by so-called
bird-waves, and our records show this to have been the case

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 57

this year — two-thirds of all the first arrivals reported by thirty-
six observers in the Philadelphia district being on these days
and the day immediately following each.

New arrivals, Wave I

March 2. Bluebird, Field Sparrow.

March 3. Purple Grackle, Kingfisher, Flicker, Killdeer,
Robin, Savanna Sparrow.

There was a general flight of Grackles, arrivals being reported
from seven stations. Nearly all the species comprising this
wave were resident at one station or another ; but only actual
migrant individuals have been considered in the above state-
ment.
Nciv arrivah, Wave II

March 13. Brown Thrasher, Myrtle Warbler.

March 14. Hermit Thrush, Phoebe, Cowbird, Fox Sparrow.

March 15. Vesper Sparrow.

From March 14th to 16th the chief migrants were: the Grackle
arrived at 10 stations, Killdeer at 3, Robin at 15, Red-winged
Blackbird at 16, Phoebe at 9, Fox Sparrow at 15.

New arrivals, Wave III

March 23. Chipping Sparrow, Towhee.

Main migrants: Field Sparrow arrived at 12 stations March
23rd-24th, Flicker at 11, Phoebe at 8.

New arrivals, Wave IV

March 27. Barn Swallow.

Jlarch 28. Tree Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

March 30. Rough-winged Swallow.

Chief migrants: Chipping Sparrow arrived at 15 stations
March 2Sth-30th, Vesper Sparrow, 6 stations, March 29th-30th.

Beginning with the extremely low mean temperature of 34°
on April 1st, this month showed no sudden rise until April 28th
lo 30th, when there was an increase of sixteen degrees. There
was, however, a steady rise of 28° continuing from April 19th
to April 2Gth. The mean temperature of the month was 47°,
four degrees below the mean of thirty-seven years, while the
precipitation was nearly normal. There were severe frosts on

58 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

April 1st, 2d, 6th and 20tli, and light ones on April 21st and
22d. The most sudden drops in temperature were fourteen de-
grees between April 5th and 6th, eleven between April I8th
and '9th, and eighteen between April 26th and 28th.

The continued low temperature, April lst-l!)th, brought mi-
gration almost to a standstill, and undoubtedly backed up those
species that were ready to push northward. Rather higher tem-
perature on April 4th and 5th came too close after the warm
March weather to bring many migrants; nearly all the species
then due having already arrived.

After the increasing temperature of Aprd lUtli migration was
at once apparent:

New arrivals, Wave V

April 21. Water Thrush.

April 22. Catbird.

April 23. Chimney Swift.

The chief migrants April 20th-21st were Hermit Thrush, ar-
rived at 10 stations, Ruby-crowned Kinglet at 6, Yellow-palm
Warbler at 5.

Then came the steady rise of 28° from April 19th-26th, which
brought a scattered arrival of birds from April 20th-23rd, and
an enormous increase April 25th-27th. This lieing followed by
the rise above mentioned, resulted in another wave April 30th-
May 1st, so that there were almost uninterrupted arrivals during
the last six days of the month, though fewer on the 2Stb and
29th owing to the drop in temperature on these days.

New arrivals, Wave VI

April 25. House Wren, WiLson's Thrush, Redstart, Black-
throated Blue Warlder.
April 26. Yellow Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Solitary
Vireo, Wood Thrush, Maryland Yellowthroat,
Oven bird.
April 27. Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler.
The conspicuous species were Barn Swallow, arrived at 9 sta-
tions April 26th-28lh, Brown Thrasher 15, Myrtle Warbler 10,
Black-and-white Warbler 14, Ovenbird 7, Chimney Swift 18,
House Wren 11, Maryland Yellowthroat 15.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 59

New arrivals, Wave VII

April 30. Olive-backed Thrush, White-eyed Vireo, Prairie
Warbler.

May I. Canada, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia
and Parula Warblers, Yellow-throated Vireo,
Indigobird, Least Flycatcher, Bobolink, Balti-
more and Orchard Orioles.

May 2. Yellow- billed Cuckoo, Wood Pewee, Great-crested
Flycatcher, Kingbird, Scarlet Tanager.

From April 29th to May 1st the Ovenbird arrived at 12 sta-
tions, Catbird 13, Wood Thrush 13, but scarcely any of the new
arrivals were generally reported, being represented only by scat-
tered individuals.

May exhibited far more phenomenal temperature conditions
than April. The mean was 58°, five degrees below the mean of
thirty-seven years, and only once equaled during this period
—i. e. 57° in 1882.

The highest temperature of the month was on May 10th when
77° was reached; IMay 14th and 15th with 84°, and May 19th
when 81° was registered; on only four other days did the maxi-
mum temperature exceed 70'.

The only marked increases in temperature were May 12th-
14th, when the mean raised twenty-two degrees ; May 17th-19th
thirteen degrees, and May 21st to 23d eleven degrees.

Between May 10th-12th there was a fall of eighteen degrees,
with frost on the last day, and a fall of twenty degrees between
May 19th-21st.

The precipitation was 5.62, 2.41 above the average of thirty-
six years, and only equaled in 1873 (5.83).

The real advent of summer weather was on .June 15th, when
conditions changed suddenly, and the cold was at an end.

Waves VIII and IX

Low temperature and rain from May 2d to 9th checked
migration at a most vital time, so that arrivals were scattered
over these days without much concentration.

A sudden raise on May 10th brought an enormous flight on
May llth-12th, notwithstanding that the temperature dropped

60 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

on these days lower than it had been before, with frost on the
12th.

The bulk of most of the Warblers, Thrushes, Vireos, Tanagers,
etc., went through at this time, and owing no doubt to concen-
tration many Golden- winged, Hooded, Wilson's and Bay-
breasted Warblers were seen — species that are usually rare.

The high temperature of May 14th-1.5th is not reflected in
the migration record, but that of May 19th produced the last
"wave" of the season, the conspicuous species being the
Blackpoll and Canada Warblers and Wood Pewee.

The following cold weather had the efifect of delaying birds
that had not already passed through, and holding many
stragglers until the middle of June, a week or more after their
normal date of departure.

Comparison with Other Seasons

In judging whether birds were later than usual in the spring
of 1907, we must not be too hasty. It is necessary to be sure
what we are basing comparisons upon, and also to differentiate
between different portions of the migration.

Taking the records of thirty-six observers within about ten
miles of Philadelphia, we find that Purple Crackles, Robins,
Redwings and often Fox Sparrows have their first concentrated
flight in February. These species did not move till March in
1907, but neither did they in 1905.

1907. 1906. 1905.

Purple Grackle, Mar. 3-5 (3)* Feb. 21-24 (15) Mar. 8-U (F. 24)

Robin . Mar. 13 15 (3) Feb. 20-23 (Jan. 28) Mar. 5-8

Redwing Mar. 14-16 (9) Feb. 23-24 (4) Mar. 11-16 (9)

Fox Sparrow Mar. 14-17 04) Feb. 22-24 (20) Mar. 12-16 (12)

So far as other March migrants go, the season was practically
normal, with some very early stragglers during the warm days
at the close of the month.

* Date in parentheses is that of first arrival ; the other is the period of
arrival at the majority of stations.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 61

1907. 1906. 1905.

Phoebe Mar. 15-17 (14) Mar. 29-Apr. ti (12) Mar. 16-19 (16)

Chipping Sparrow. Mar. 27-29 (21) Apr. 5-8 (Mar. 24) Mar. 26-28 (18)

In April and May we have to deal with migrants which start
their flight for the most part in the tropics far south of the
United States, and are of course not affected bj' temperature
conditions prevalent here until they reach the region affected.

Taking the forty species of April and May migrants, of which
we have the fullest records, we find by comparing the earliest
arrivals within the Philadelphia district for 1907, 1906 and 1905
that 16 species were earlier in 1906 than in 1905; 16 earlier in
1905 than in 1906, and 8 arrived on the same day; the average
date for the forty being almost the same for the two years.

1907, however, compared with 1906 shows 18 species earlier
and 21 later; average for forty species one and a half day.« late.
Compared with 1905, 15 species arrived earlier, 23 later; average
for forty species one day later.

This is a very slight difference, and has probably little or no
significance so far as the movement of the bulk of each species
is concerned. As the most accurate means of comparing the
latter, we have ascertained the date upon which each species
had been reported from at, least one-half of the stations at which
it was observed. This gives a fair basis of comparison between
two seasons, in one of which the migration may have been
spread over a number of days, while in the other it was concen-
trated upon a few.

For example, the Brown Thrasher was first observed at our
various stations during 1907, 1906 and 1905 as follows, the
numbers in parentheses indicating the number of stations at
which it was reported if at more than one :

1907. March 13, 17; April 20, 23, 25, 26 (6), 27 (7), 28(2),
29 (2), 30 (2).

1906. March 9; April 10, 16, 17 (2), 19 (3), 20, 21 (4),

22 (3), 24 (2), 25 (2), 26, 27, 28 (2), 30.

1905. April 9, 13, 14 (2), 16, 18 (2), 19 (2), 21 (2), 22 (6),

23 (3), 24 (4), 25 (2), 26, 29, 30.

It had thus reached at least half the stations as follows :

1907, April 27; 1906, April 21; 1905, April 22.

62 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

From similar comparisons of fortj' species of April and May
migrants, we find that tlie dates liy which they had been recorded
at half of our stations, averaged four days later in 1907 than in
1906, and three days later in 1907 than in 1905. The actual
difference in the various species varying from one to seven
daj's. In only four instances was the 1907 date earlier or
equal as compared with 1906, and in only six as compared with
1905.

It is noticeable that the late May migrants are later both in
first appearance and in bulk arrival than those of April .and
early May.

In summing up the spring migration of 1907 then, we find
that there was no trace of the usual February migration, the
March flight was about normal, with some exceptionally early
stragglers. April was characterized by a straggling migration
without any concentrated movement until the last week when
birds arrived with a rush. The same straggling migration char-
acterized the early part of May with another phenomenal rush
on the 11th and 12th, and a final movement on the 19th. fol-
lowed by another delay, which kept migrants here until
June 15th.

The first arrival of most species was nearly normal, but the
bulk movements were seriously delayed.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

63

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I'iARLIF.ST DATEH OF ARRIVAL (IP TM I IIT V-THO HPEOIBS AT TWKNTV-FOIIH STATIOSa

orrsiui; thf Philadki.I'iiia cmcr.B,

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 67

List of Other Species Reported by Observers During 1907, and

Additional Notes. Winter Notes Relate to Winter of

1906-7. Localities are in Pennsylvania

Unless Otherwise Lidicated.

Colymbus auritics, Horned Grebe. One on Broomall's Lake,
Media, April 16 (Allen); Wayne, April 26 (Redjield and Pear-
son); Richmond, Phila., April 29 (Miller).

Podilymbus podiceps, Pied-billed Grebe. Beverly, N. J., April
10-25 (Street); Easton, March 30 (Marx); one shot October 29,
1906, La Anna, Pike Co., Pa. (Harlow); Bridesburg, Phila.,
March 19 (Mdler); Tinicum, March 23, April 6 and 13 (Red-
field); Wayne, one, March 30-April 20 (Pearson); Princeton,
N. J., November 5, 1005 and April 8, 1906 (Rogers).

Gavia imber, Loon. Cape May, N. J., May 9; heard several
in fog (Hand).

Larus argentatus, Herring Gull. Plentiful on the coast and
on the lower Delaware throughout the winter. Occurred Sept.
3 to May 12 at Frankford (Miller) ; casual at Trenton, N. J. , (Ab-
bott); occurred in earlj^ spring on the Susquehanna at Columbia
(Rochow); last seen at Tinicum, April 16 (Harlow); Princeton,
N. J., January 13, March 18 and 23 (Rogers).

Lams atricapillus, Laughing Gull. Colony at Stone Harbor,
N. J., visited May 28-29; birds estimated at 500, some nests
were noted with one egg each, others empty. No extended
search was made for fear of disturbing the birds (Carter). Cape
May, N. J., arrived April 11 (Hand).

Sterna hinindo, Common Tern. Four at Stone Harbor, N. J.,
May 28-29 (Carter); flock of 20, Fish House, N. J., May 16
(Miller).

Sula bassana, Gannet. Cape May, N. J., March 18 (Hand).

Merganser americanus, American Merganser. Flock of about
20 wintered on the Delaware just above Bristol, February 10-
March 3 (Keim and Morris); Cape May, N. J., March 19; very
plentiful April 8-13 (Hand); wintered on Oak Lane Reservoir
(Harlow), wintered at Tinicum (Harlow).

Lophodytes cucullatus, Hooded Merganser. Princeton, N. J.,
a pair, April 16 (Rogers).

68 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

Anas boschas, Mallard. Bristol, March 23 (Keim and Morru) ;
frequent during Marcli at Tinicum (Harlow).

Anas ohscura, Black Duck. Bristol, March 23 {Keim and
Morris); Tinicum, one shot April 13 (Pearson and Redfield);
Princeton, N. J., flock of four April 8 (Rogers); Cape May,
N. J., May 24; Pike Co., Pa., five November 1, 1906 (Harlow).

Querquedula discors, Blue-winged Teal. Common during
March at Tinicum (Harloiv).

GlaucioncUa clangula, Goldeneye Duck. Winter resident at
Tinicum (Harlow).

Charitonella alheola, Bufllehead. Beach Haven, N. J., March
12 (Harlow); Princeton, N. J., a pair March 17 (Rogers).

Branta canadensis, Canada Goose. Last seen at Edge Hill,
December 5, 1906 (Hai-low); all winter on the Delaware at
Richmond, Phila. (Miller).

Botaurm lentiginosus, American Bittern. Yardville, N. J.,
May b (Allinson); Radnor, Sep. 2, 1906 (Pearson); April 8
(Rogers); Cape May, N. J., April 25 (Hand); Frankford,
March 27 and W. Palmyra, N. J., May 19 (Miller).

Botaurus exilis, Least Bittern. Pensauken, N. J., May 19
(Hunt) ; arrived at Richmond, Phila., in April, had eggs May 29
(Miller).

Ardea herodias, Great Blue Heron. Media, May 19 (A. Pus-
sell); Kennett Square, April 9 (Pcnnock); Yardville, N. J., May
12 (Allinson); Fort Washington, JLarch 30 (Gambles); Radnor,
April 13 (Patton); April 17 (Pearson); May 11-12 (Redfield);
Princeton, N. J., Oct. 8, 1905, May 12, 1907 (Rogers); Cape
May, N. J., March 14 (Hand); Frankford, March 27 (Miller).

Herodias egretta, White Egret. One along Ridley Creek, April
21 (Allen); one shot at Cheltenham, last of July, 1906 (Harlow).

Nycticorax n. naevius, Night Heron. Wayne April 23 (Pear-
son); about 20 pairs nesting at Valhy Forge, ^lay 30 (Redfield. )

Rallus elegans, King Rail. Nest found at Tinicum, May 26,
contained seven eggs, June 2 (Carter).

Ralhis crepitans, Clapper Rail. Two nests witli eggs. Stone
Harbor, N. J., May 28-29 (Carter); Cape May, N. J., March
14 (Hand).

lonornis martinica, Purple Gallinulc. Cape May, N. J., May 10
(Hand).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 69

Gallinula galeata, Florida Gallinula. Richmond, Phila. , ar-
rived April 28, had eggs May 29 {Miller).

Philohcla ininor, Woodcoclc. Ardniore, March 3 {Baity) ; old
with half-grown young, April 26, on Maurice River, N. J.,
(Prince); Woodljourne, Nov. 1, 1906 {Keim and Morris);
plentiful at Cape May, N. J. , during and immediately after each
cold snap with strong N. W. winds, strings of 10 to 42 killed
during October and November, 1906, arrived March 14, 1907
{Hand); Wayne, April 13 (Pearson); Princeton, N. J., March 18
and 25, 1906 (Rogers).

Gallinago delicata, Wilson's Snipe. Brisstol, March 28 (Keim
and Morris); Perkasie, April 23 (Putter); Glenside, April 23
(Harlow); Radnor, May 4 (Palton); Princeton, N. J., April Sand
21 (Rogers); Radnor Hunt, April 27 (Red field and Pearson);
Cape May, N. J., March 14, very plentiful April 8-10 (Hand).

Tringa canutus, Knot. Saw 25 ' ' Robin-breast snipe ' ' that
had been shot. Cape May, N. J., May 29 (Hand).

Tringa minutilla, Least Sandpiper. Cape May, N. J., April

25 (Hand); two at Princeton, N. J., May 29, 1906 (Rogers).
Ereunctes pusillus, Semipalmated Sand2:iiper. Bridesburg,

May 14 (Miller) ;iom at Princeton, N. J., May 29, 1906 (Rogers);
Cape May, N. J., March 14 (Hand); flock of 15 at Richmond,
Phila., May 17 (Miller).

Totanusmelanoleucus, Greater Yellowlegs. Oxford Valley near
Bristol, Nov. 1, 1906 (Keim and Morris); one at Tinicum, May

26 (Carter); Wayne, April 25 (Pearson) May 25 (Redjield).
Helodromas solitarius, Solitary Sandpiper. Near Trenton, N. J. ,

still present May 30 (Abbott); Frankford last seen May 23
(Miller).

Bartramia longicauda, Bartramian Sandpiper. Mendenhall,
May G (W. Carter); Norristown, April 24 (Roberts); George
School, May 1, (Roberts); Fish House, N. J., May 12 (Miller).

Numenius hudsonicus, Hudsonian Curlew. Stone Harbor,
N. J., May 28-29 (Carter); Cape May, N. J., arrived April 12,
"ten days ahead of usual time" saw flock of 50. "On May
23, found a Curlew 'roost,' a place where they sit during the
night. It was conspicuous from the tracks and droppings, the
ground being quite white. Went out in the evening to see them

70 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

come in. They came from 7.50 to 8 p. m. in big bunches with
little or no whistling, but their wings roared like ducks. The
flocks were so big I could not imagine where so many birds
spend the day without being seen. Had it not been for the
moon I could not have been al)le to see them " (Hand).

Squatarola squatarola, Black-bellied Plover. Stone Harbor,
N. J., May 28-29 (Carter); Cape May, N. J., May 20, 25 and 29
(Hand).

Aegialilis semipalmata, Ring-neck Plover. Stone Harbor,
N. J., May 28-29 (Carter).

Oxyechus vociferus, Killdeer. Half-grown young at Vineland,
N. J., May 21 (Prince); last seen at Glenside, November 1,
(Harlow); Tinicum, April 16 (Harlow).

Arenaria interpres, Turnstone. Cape May, N. J., May 20, 25
and 29 (Hand).

Colinus virginianus, Bobwhite. Edge Hill, May 1 (Harlow) ;
Tinicum, July 3 (Harlow); Pt. Kennedy, May 30 (Palton &nd
Pearson).

Zenaidura macroura, Mourning Dove. Edge Hill, December
24 (Harlow.)

Circus hudsonim, Marsh Hawk. Wintered at Cape May, N. J. ,
(Hand); none seen at Concordville where it usually winters
(Styer); none on the Bridesburg Meadows (Miller). Seen now
and then in the interior, Glenside, November 4 (Harlow);
Ardmore, May 12 (Baily); Radnor, September 29 and March
3 (Patton); Edge Hill, November 4 and April 6, scarce (Harlow) ;
wintered plentifully at Tinicum, October to April 16 (Hailow).

Accipiter velox, Sharp-shinned Hawk. Irregular resident,
rather scarce during winter at Glenside (Harlow); nest with
eggs, May 13 (Miller); arrived at Lopez April 1 (Behr); one
shot with a robin in its claws, May 7, Mendenhall ( W. Carter) ;
Princeton, N. J., April 24 and May 21 (Rogers); nest just fin-
ished. Cape May, N. J., May 27 (Harrower).

Accipiter cooperi, Cooper's Hawk. Rare at Trenton, N. J.,
October-May (Abbott); one at Bristol, October 20 to I\Iarch 17
(Keim); resident at Glenside but scarce, nest and eggs April 20
(Harlow); two or three all winter at Frankford (Miller) ; one
shot at Mendenhall, May 1, was very destructive to chicks dur-
ing April (W. Carter).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 71

Astur atricapillus, Goshawk. One seen at Fort Washington,
February 26 and March 3; one shot in December (Camhlos);
one shot at Argus in November {Rutter); Edge Hill, January 5
{Harlow}.

Bidco borenlis, Red-tailed Hawk. Generally winter resident ;
last seen at Glenside, April 22 (Harloiv); Radnor, November 10
to April 6 {Redfield); Frankford, September 11 to May {Miller);
nesting at Trenton, N. J., March 22 {Ahbolt); Tinicum, last
seen April 16 ; Princeton, N. J., October 16 to May 7 {Rogers}.

Buteo lineatus. Red-shouldered Hawk. Winter resident at
many stations, Radnor, October 14-May 4 {Pierson}, Frankford,
October 16-April 30 {Miller}; last seen at Glenside, April 20
{Harlow}; Princeton, N. J., October 22-February 18 {Rogers).

Buteo jilatypterus, Broad-winged Hawk. Wayne, April 25
{Redfield}; nest June 1 {F<itton}; Princeton, N. J., February 7,
June 3, December 9, 1906, and April 22, May 22, 1907 {Rogers}.

Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis, Rough-legged Hawk. Prince-
ton, N. J., January 30, February 15 and December 11, 1906
{Rogers}.

Halieeetus levcocephalus, Bald Eagle. Stone Harbor, N. J.,
May 28 {Carter}; Nockamixon, April 18 {Harloiv}; Cape May,
N. J., April 14 {Hand}.

Falco peregrinus anatuvi, Duck Hawk. Princeton, N. J., Jan.
24, 1906 {Rogers}.

Falco rolumbarius, Pigeon Hawk. West Phila. , March 6
{Carter}; Princeton, N. J., April 21 {Rogers}.

Falco sparverius, Sparrow Hawk. Resident generally, rather
scarce in winter; arrived at Lopez, March 27 {Behr}.

Pandion halixtus carolinensis, Osprey. Cape May, N. J.,
March 21 {Hand}.

Asio wilsonianus, Long-eared Owl. One seen flying about
Yardville at dusk, did not roost in firs as usual {Alllnson}; Fre-
quently seen at Glenside, August 12-March, two flocks, one of
six, the other of four; wintered {Harlow}.

Asio accipitrinits, Short-eared Owl. Edge Hill, March 3 (two)
and noticed at intervals until May 28 {Harlow); Tinicum, April
6 and April 13 {Redfield and Pearsmi).

Nyctala acadica, Saw-whet Owl. Edge Hill, Dec. 13, 1906,
and one shot LaAnna, Pike Co., Nov. 1, 1906 {Harlow}.

72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Megascops asio, Screech Owl. Resident, had eggs at Frank-
ford, March 23 (Miller).

Ceryle alcynn, Kingfisher. One at Hohnesburg throughout
Jan. and Feb. {Foider); One wintered at Tinicum (Harlow).

Drynbates villosus, Hairy Woodpecker. Common winter resi-
dent at Glenside, two pairs bred {Harloxu) ; winter resident at
Radnor, Ardmore, etc. Concordville. April 20 (Slyer); Per-
kasie, April 27, May 3 (Riitter); Media, Feb. 19 (Allen);
Swarthniore, Jan. 2, March 8, (Palmer j; CoUingdale, Feb. 9 (Lor-
riliere); Vineland, N. J., April 29 (Prince); eggs at Pensauken,
N. J., May 11 (Miller).

Dryohates pubescens medianus, Downy Woodpecker. Common
resident, most abundant in winter east of the mountains. West
of Glenside, May 21 (Harloiv); scarcer than usual at Downstovvn,
N. J. (Fair).

Sphyrapicus thyroides, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Edge Hill,
Dec. 27, 1906 (Harlow); Wayne last seen April 18 (Redfield);
Princeton, N. J., April 20-21 (Rogers.)

Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red-headed Woodpecker. " A bird
in the Juvenal plumage arrived at Yardville, N. J., the latter ])art
of October and remained until the middle of May. He molted
during this time, the red becoming apparent early in February.
He would drive the Downy Woodpecker, Nuthatches and other
birds from the suet we had put up, tear off a i)iece and put it
in cracks in the bark, a hole in the clothes-line post or any con-
venient place, scolding all the while. Another favorite occu-
pation was to pick holes in the shingle roofs. Saw another
individual in May" (AlUnson).

Colaptes auratus luteus, Flicker. Radnor, December 15, Ard-
more, December 19, Paoli, February 16 (Redfield).

Trochilus colubris, Hummingbird. Nest and eggs, Swarth-
more, June 13 (Harrower).

Sayornis phoebc, Phoebe. Nest with eggs, Swarthmore, May
9 (Harrower); new nest. Fox Chase, Phila., March 22 (Miller);
beginning nest at Haverford, March 28, and Paoli, March 29
(Redfield); one wintered at Wayne, 1905-6 (Pearson).

Nuttalornis borealis, Olive-sided Flycatcher. Arrived at Lopez,
June 10.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 73

Empidonax virescens, Acadian Flycatcher. Nest and three
eggs, Swarthmore, June 13 (Harmuer).

Empidonax Jlnviventris, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Kennett
Square, June 2 (Pennock); Burlington, N. J., May 19 (Carter).

Otocoris alpestris, Horned Lark. Flocks all winter at Cape
May, N. J., {Hand); November to April at Trenton, N. J.
(Abbott); Downstown, N. J., Februarys (Fair); Concordville,
February 6 (Styer); Bristol, December 29 — March 10 (Keirn);
Tinicum, January 1 (LorriUiere); Glenside, March 8 and 11
(Harlow); George School, February 9 (Parker); Tinicum, Jan-
nary 1-18 (Harlow); flock of seven at Princeton, N. J., Novem-
ber 12, 1905; 50 on January 7, 1906, and 19 on February 7, 1907.

Cyanocitta cristata, Blue Jay. Reported as plentiful at Trenton,
Yardville, N. J. , Kennett Square and some other stations but
generally considered unusually scarce during the winter of
1906-7. Not seen until May 11 at Swarthmore (Palmer); April
29 at Lansdowne (A. D. White); April 28 at Radnor (Redfield),
May at Frankford, (Miller); May 6 at Mendenhall (Carter).

Corvus ossifragus, Fish Crow. Observed at Fox Chase,
Holmesburg, Frankford, Bristol and Trenton, N. J. Also on
the coast at Cape May, N. J. Nest and eggs, Tinicum, April 16
(Harlow).

Corpus brachyrhynchos.. Crow. Generally abundant resident,
scarcer than usual at Downstown, N. J. (Fair) ; only about one-
quarter of the usual number in the daily flight at Concordville
(Styer); eggs April 5 at Glenside (Harlow); eggs April 4, young
April 18 at Holmesburg (Miller); eggs Swarthmore April 6
(Harrower).

Sturnns vulgaris, European Starling. Princeton, N. J., first
noted Dec, 1905, flock of 21 on June 8, 1907, now permanent
resident (Rogers).

Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Bobolink. Remained at Ardmore until
June 5 (Baily); male in abnormal plumage, Tinicum, June 8
(Miller).

Agelaius phoeniceus, Red-winged Blackbird. Moorestown,
N. J., Nov. 25, 1906 (Ecans).

Sturnella magna, Meadow Lark. Wintered at Wayne (Red-
field).

74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Euphagus carolimts, Rusty Blackbird. Tinicum, Feb. 10
(Carter); flock wintered at Tinicum (Harlow).

Quiscalus quisada, Purple Grackle. Eggs Swarthmore, April
27 (Harrower); one stayed through Dec. and Jan. at Ardmore
(Baily); one at Rosemont, Dec. 13, 1906 (Redfield).

Carjiodaciis purpureus, Purple Finch. Occurred Oct. 7-May
24 at Radnor (Redfield); Dec. 23-May 18, at George School
(Packer); Oct. 11-May 17, at Easton (Marx); arrived during
Feb. at Lansdowne, Ardmore, Olney, Beverly, N. J., and
Trenton N. J. Observed March 14, at Oak Lane (Allen);
March 24, at Moorestown, N. J. (Evans); very plentiful May 1-
10, at Haverford (Linton); May 4-8, at Concordville (Slyer);
May 12, at Media (Allen); arrived at Lopez, April 27 (Behr).

Loxia curvirostra vnnor, Crossbill. A single bird Lansdowne,
May 22 (Carter); Moorestown, N. J., Dec. 16, 1906 (Evam).

Loxia leucoptera, White-winged Crossbill. Occurred at Lopez,
from end of Oct. 1906, to Feb., the first time they have been
here for several years (Behr).

Acanthis linaria, Redpoll. Media, Feb. 23, flock of six, dur-
ing bitter cold weather (Allen); five seen March 3, (Moore);
Swarthmore, Feb. 13 (Harrower); Clifton, March 9, flock of
200 (Hammer); Kennett Square, Feb. 25, flock of 30-40,
March 13, two (Pennock); Paoli, Feb. 16, and Wayne, March
9-14 (Redfield); four with Goldfinches at Princeton, N. J., Feb.
18, two on March 17 (Rogers).

Astragalinus iristis, Goldfinch. Generall}' resident but less
common and at some stations absent during the winter.

Spinus pinus, Pine Finch. Atlantic City, N. J., Feb. 6
(Evans); Ridley Park, Jan. 5 (Harrower); Lansdowne, Jan. 6,
Feb. 20-21 (Carter); Tinicum, Feb. 10 (Carter); Edge Hill,
Dec. 24, 1906 (twenty) (Harlow); several, all winter at Frank-
ford {MUlcr); St. Davids, Oct. 27, 1906 and Feb. 13-16, at
Wayne, (Redfield); Princeton, N. J., Oct. 13-15, 1906, and
two on May 16-17, 1907 (Rogers).

Poa'cetes gi-amineus, Vesper Sparrow. Pensauken, N. J.,
young left nest May 26 (Hunt); eggs May 12 (Harlow).

Ammodramus hensloici, Henslow's Sparrow. Three pairs seen
near Cape May, N. J., May 24 (Harlow); Princeton, N. J.,
May 5 (Rogers).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGIC^U. CLUB. 75

Zonotrichia leucophrys, White-crowned Sparrow. Lansdowne,
May 8 (IF. R. White); Princeton, N. J., Oct. 14, 1906, and
May 21, 1907, one each time (Rogers).

Zonotrichia albicollis, ^^'hite-throated Sparrow. Arrived in
autumn, 1906, at Frankford, Sept. 11, Radnor, Sept. 15
(Patton); Germantown, Sept. 20 (Brewer); Bryn Mawr, Sept.
24 (TAomas); last seen Bryn Mawr, May 8; Mendenhall, May
10; Swarthmore and Germantown, May 11; Media, Concord-
ville and Kennett Square, May 12; Moorestown, N. J., May 13;
Haverford, May 15; George School, May 17; Pensauken N. J.,
and Glenside, May 19; Lansdowne, May 20; Pvadnor, May 29
(Pearson); Frankford, May 30; spring migrants arrived at Olney
Mar. 14; Yardville, N. J., Mar. 24; reached Easton Mar. 26,
and Lopez, Apr. 29; Princeton, N. J., Oct. 13-Nov. 4, 1906,
and April 7-May 12, 1907 (Rogers).

Spizella monticola, Tree Sparrow. Arrived in autumn, 1906;
at Frankford, Oct. 1; Moorestown, Oct. 2; Radnor, Oct. 12;
Princeton, N. J., Nov. 4; Easton, Nov. 17; last seen in spring
1907; Bristol, Mar. 17; George School, Mar. 30; Radnor, April
13; Tinicum, Apr. 16 (Harlow); Glenside, April 18; Princeton,
N. J., Apr. 22; Easton, May 2.

Spizella pusilla, Field Sparrow. Radnor, Dec. 15, 1906, and
Feb. 17; also at Tinicum, Feb. 22 (Rcclfield); Edge Hill, Dec.
29 (several) (Harlow); wintered at Tinicum (Haiiow).

Junco hyemalis, Junco. Arrived in autumn, 1906; at Radnor
(Pearson) and Bryn Mawr (Thomas), Sept. 28; Frankford,
Oct. 1; Germantown, Oct. 4; George School, Pa., and Borden-
town, N. J., Oct. 10; Media, Oct. 13; Princeton, N. J., Oct.
14; Easton, Oct. 25; Moorestown, N. J., Oct. 28; last seen in
spring, 1907; Yardville, N. J., Media and Bryn Mawr, Apr. 21;
Holmesburg, Apr. 22; Downstown, N. J. and Bristol, Apr. 23;
Westtown, Apr. 24; Frankford and Perkasie, Apr. 27; Prince-
ton, N. J., Glenside and Concordville, Apr. 28; George School,
May 1; Easton, May 2; Pensauken, N. J., May 5; Marietta,
May 10; Bordentown, N. J. and Radnor, May 12; Germantown,
May 18; absent from the Alleghany plateau at Lopez from Dec.
to Mar. 1 .

Melospiza cinerea melodia, Song Sparrow. Generally resident

76 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

east of the mountains, most plentiful in the river bottoms; eggs
May 1 at Frankford, and young out of the nest May 15 at
Torresdale (Miller); arrived at Lopez on top of the Alleghanies,
Mar. 8.

Melospiza georgiana, Swamp Sparrow: Tinicum, four nests
with eggs, May 26 (Carter); wintered at Tinicum (Harlow) and
at Bridesburg (^Miller).

Passerella iliaca, Fox Sparrow. Lansdowne, Jan. 6, singing
(Carter); Wayne last seen Mar. 28 (Redficld); Princeton, N. J.,
Nov. 4-Dec. 11, 1906; Mar. 17-Apr. 8, 1907 (Rogers); very
scarce at Lopez where they are usually common in spring
(Behr).

Pipilo erythrophtkahnus, Chewink. Swarthmore, January 1
{Harrower).

Cardiaalis cardhialk, Cardinal. Resident all along the low
grounds of the Delaware from Trenton south, one pair wintered
at Ardmore (Baity); young left nest May 15 at Wissahickon
(Pickering) and Torresdale (Miller).

Zamelodia ludoviciana, Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Nest and
eggs, Torresdale, ^Lay 28 (Miller); great flight on May 12 at
Edge Hill, (Harlow).

Lanius horealis, Northern Shrike. Trenton, N. J., seen several
times (Abbott); once at Beverly, N. J. (Street); Easton, February
5-26 (Marx); Princeton, N. J., February 17 (Rogers).

Lanius ludovicianus migrans, Migrant Shrike. One at Moores-
town,N. J., March 8-29, (Mickle); Ardmore, March 16 (Baily);
Bristol, March 3 (Keim); Edge Hill, November 22, one shot
(Harlow).

Vireo flavifroiis, Yellow-throated Vireo. At least three pail's
bred at Yardville, N. J. (Allinson).

Vireo noveboracensis, White-eyed Vireo. Nest and eggs,
Bustleton, May 23 (Miller).

Helminthophila chrysoptera, Golden-winged Warbler. Moores-
town, N. J., May 12 (Evans); May 11, four at Swarthmore
(Palmer and Harrower); Burlington, N. J., May 19 (Carter);
Yardville, N. J., May 24, (Allinson); St. Davids, May 11
(Redfield); Edge Hill, May 10 (Barlow); Frankford, May 4
(Miller).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 77

Helininihophila peregi-ina, Tennessee Warbler. Princeton, N.
J., May 22 (Rogers).

HebninthophUa ruhrimpilln, Nashville Warbler. Moorestown,
N. J., May 8 (Mickle); Yardville, N. J., May 12 (Allinson); Edge
Hill, May 12, {ILirlow); Wayne, IMay 12 (Redfield); Frankford,
May 3 and 21 (Miller).

Dendroica coronaia, Myrtle Warbler. Ridley Park, January
5 ( narrower).

Dendroica castanea, Bay-breasted Warbler. Media, May 31
(Pussell); May 21 (Moore) and May 28 (^. Fussell); Swarthmore,
May 11, 20, 29 (Harrower); Lansdowne, ]\Iay 19 (A. D. White);
Ardmore, May 19 (Baily); Bryn Mawr, May 30 (T/iomas);
Kennett Square, May 25 (Pennock); Yardville, N. J., May 19
(Allinson); Wayne, May 30 (Redfield and Pearson).

Dendroica striata, Blackpoll Warbler. Moorestown, N. J.,
still present June 16 (Evans); Ardmore, June 16 (Baily).

Seiurus moticilla, Louisiana Water Thrush. Jloorestown,
N. J., Sept. 9-10, 1906 (Evans); Fox Chase, Phila., April 22
(Miller).

Geothlypis philndelphia, Mourning Warbler. One at Lans-
downe, June 11, it was heard singing for two or three days
especially in the early morning, before it was identified ( Carter) ;
Edge Hill, one at close range May 12, and another June 1 posi-
tively identified (Harlow); Holmesburg, May 21, " identifica-
tion positive " (Miller).

Wilsonia mitrata, Hooded ^^'arbler. Media, May 21 (Allen);
May 12 (Fussell); Ardmore, May 12 (Badly); Germantown,
May 14 (Brewer); May 11 (Bill); George School, May 12,
(Roberts); Radnor, May 11 (Redfield, Pearson and Patton);
Princeton, N. J., May 11-12 (Rogers).

Wilsonia pusilla, Wilson's Warbler. Pensauken, N. J., May
19 (Hunt); Media, May 30 (Fussell); May 21 (Moore); Haver-
ford, May 15 (Linton); Chestnut Hill, ]\lay 26 (Trotter); Ken-
nett Square, May BO (Pennock); Edge Hill, May 12 (Harlow);
Wayne, May 18-30 (Redfield and Pearson); Princeton, N. J.,
May 16, 1906 (Rogers).

Wilsonia canadensis, Canada Warbler. Moorestown, N. J.,
still present June 4 (Evans).

78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Setophaga rutidlla, Redstart. Moorestown, N. J., still present
June 4 (Evans); June 9, Ardmore (Baily).

Anthus pensilvaniciis, Titlark. Kennett Square, Apr. 9, flock
30-40 (Pennock); near Trenton Apr. 19 during snow storm
(Abbotty, Tinicum, Apr. 6 and 13 (Rcdjieldand Pearson); Ithan,
Apr. 14; Wayne, Apr. 25-27 {Redfield); Princeton, N. J.,
Oct. 14-27, 1906, and Apr. 8-May 12, 1907 (Rogers); Frank-
ford, March 19, and flock of ."^O-BS at Lawndale April 22
(Miller).

Galeoscoptes carolinensis, Catbird. Great flight of Catbirds and
other small birds May 8 at Cape Jlay, N. J. ; moved southwest
with fog during previous night, saw 40 to 45 Catbirds (Band);
nest and eggs at Radnor May 7 (Pearson).

Toxostoma rufum, Brown Thrasher. Media, Mar. 17 (Moore);
Swarthmore, Feb. 12-17 (llan-ower).

Thryothorus ludovicianus, Carolina Wren. Resident locally
throughout the lower Delaware Valley; absent from Pensauken,
N. J., this year (Hunt); one all winter at Ardmore (Baily);
George School, rare, one seen Sept. 10, 1906.

Olbiorchilus hiemalis, Winter Wren. Generally reported as
wintering in small numbers. Last seen in spring at Glenside
and Easton April 6, George School April 16, Radnor April 18.
Did not remain through depth of winter.

Ccrthia familiaris nmcricana, Brown Creeper. Generally present
throughout the winter; last seen at Princeton, N. J., April 21,
Radnor April 28, Germantown April 6, Frankford, April 16,
Moorestown, N. J., May 3 (Mirkle); arrived at Frankford October
2, 1906, Radnor September 28, Germantown October 4; perman-
ently resident at Lopez.

Sitta carolinensis, White-breasted Nuthatch. Generally re-
ported as more plentiful than usual tliroughout the winter,
mostly disappearing in spring.

Sitta caimdensis, Red-breasted Nuthatch. Moorestown N. J.,
continually from early November to February 13 (Ecans), also
October 9-31 (Mickle); Media, September 21, October 2-3, 1906
(Allen), Haverford, May 6 (Linton); Ilolmesburg, ]\Iay 3, plenti-
ful during autumn, 1906, at Frankford (Miller); Wayne, Sep-
tember 28, October 27, 1906 (Redjkld and Pearson).

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 79

Bxolophus bicolor, Tufted Titmouse. Resident in the low
grounds of the Delaware valley; rare at Glenside, very rare at
Ft. Washington; eggs May 10 Edge Hill {Harlow).

Penthestes atricapillus, Black-capped Chickadee. Radnor,
Nov. 3-Apr. 3 {Redfidd); Bristol, Nov. 18-Mar. 17 {Keim);
Easton, Oct. 23-Apr. 4; present during winter at most stations
in Pennsylvania.

Penthestes carolinensis, Carolina Chickadee. New Jersey — Vine-
land, Downstown and Cape May resident; the status of some of
the other records is in doubt, they may refer to either species.

Regulus satrapa, Golden-crowned Kinglet. Winter resident
at most stations; Germantown, Oct. 4-Apr. 6; Radnor, Sep. 22-
Apr. 27; Frankford, Sep. 21-Apr. 23; last seen at Glenside,
Apr. 2; at George School, Apr. 21; Princeton, N. J., Oct. 14-
Apr. 22 (Rogers).

Regulus calendula, Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Last seen at
Wayne May 10 (Redfield).

Sylocichla fuscescens, Wilson's Thrush. Last seen at Wayne,
May 30 (Redfield).

Hylocichla list, sivainsoni, Olive-backed Thrush. Remained
at Ardmore, until June 8 (Baily); June 6, Oak Lane {Miller).

Hylocichla guttata pallasi, Hermit Thrush. Haverford, March
14 {Linton); last seen at Wayne, May 11, also seen Dec. 5,
1906 (Redfield).

Merula migratoria, Robin. Had eggs Frankford, April 27
(Miller); increased at Cape May, N. J., March 14, March 18 and
19 (Hand).

Sialia sialis, Bluebird. Had eggs Frankford April 29 {Miller);
eggs April 5, Edge Hill, {Harloio).

City Ornithology

Mary S. Allen furuislies the following notes on birds observed
in the Friends' Western Burial Ground, Sixteenth and Race
Streets, Philadelphia.

Autumn Migration, 1906.

Flicker, September 15.

Redstart, September 1, 3-5, 15.

Brown Thrasher, September 15 (four), 17 (two).

Spring Migration, 1907.

Flicker, April 17.

Blue Ja}', May 11.

Song Sparrow, March 14 (three).

Junco, March 14 (ten).

Chipping Sparrow, April 26.

White-throated Sparrow, May 11 (three), May 23.

Fox Sparrow, IMarch 14 (eleven).

Towhee, May 11 (four).

Ovenbird, April 26, May 8 and 11.

Brown Thrasher, May 11, 13 and 23.

White-breasted Nuthatch, May 11.

Hermit Thrush, April 17 (four).

Robin arrived March 14, remained all summer.

Bluebird, March 20 (four).

(80)

Abstract of the Proceedings of the Delaware
Valley Ornithological Club for 1907

January 3, 1907. Annual Meeting. Thirty-five members
present. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted
in the choice of: President, William A. Shryock; Vice-Presi-
dent, Samuel C. Palmer; Secretary, Herbert L. Coggins; Treas-
urer, Stewardson Brown. The resignations of Dr. A. P. Fellows
and Bruce P. Tyler, associates, were read and accepted.

Mr. Rehn reviewed the more important ornithological publi-
cations of the year; and Mr. Coggins followed with remarks
upon "Some Contemporary Ornithologists" in which the
officers and active members of the club received attention. A
light collation followed, in accordance with the custom of mak-
ing the annual meeting essentially a social affair.

January 17, 1907. Twenty-one members present. Mr.
Morris read a paper on the " Life of William Bartram " [see
Cassinia, 1906]. Mr. Stone called attention to Canon Tris-
tram's collection of birds recently acquired by the Academy,
a portion of which was on exhibition.

February 7, 1907. Twenty-one members present. Mr.
Brown spoke on "The Birds of the Canadian Rockies" ob-
served during June and July, 1906, while on a botanical trip to
British Columbia.

Mr. Rhoads reported Bluebirds (Sialta stalls) at Haddon-
field, N. J., Feb. 4, and Mr. Morris described a search for a
crow roost near Doylestown, Pa.

February SI, 1907. Twenty-three members present. Mr. S.
N. Rhoads read extracts from letters received from Mr. R. B.
Simpson of Warren, Pa., relative to the bird life of that vicinity.
The Solitary Vireo {Vireo solilarlus) ; Morning Warbler (^Geothly-

(81)

82 PROCEEDINGS OP THE

pis Philadelphia) ; Black-throated Blue Warbler (Dendroica
caerulescens) ; Blackburnian Warbler (D. blackbarniae); Winter
Wren {Olbiorchihts hiemalis); Wilson's Thrush {Hylonchla fi(s-
cescens); Olive-backed Thrush {H. u. suninsoni) and Hermit
Thrush {H. g. 2^nllasi) were mentioned as summer residents,
and in Forest County Mr. Simpson had found the Yellow-
bellied Flycatcher ( Empidonax flaviventris) in midsummer.

A note from Mr. Harlow was read recording the presence of a
flock of about 800 Redpolls (Acanthis linaria) at Camp Hill, Pa.,
several of which had been secured.

Mr. narrower reported a Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
at Ridley Park January 5, and a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma
rujum) at Swarthmore January 12.

March 7, 1907. Twenty-two members present. This being
the meeting for spring election of members the following were
elected Associates: Francis W. Rawle, Samuel C. Scoville and
William M. Strang.

Dr. Trotter gave an interesting talk upon "British Birds"
based upon his visit to England in the summer of 1906. He
contrasted the bird life with that of Pennsylvania and also
touched upon birds in English literature, and his interest in
seeing various species in the same haunts that the famous
writers and poets of England had described them.

Mr. Rehn recorded a Bald Eagle {Halixetus Icucocephalus)
near West Creek, N. J., February 22.

Dr. Jack stated that Robins {Merula migratoria) had been
observed near Media every Sunday during the winter.

Mr. Baily reported a Woodcock {Philuhela minor); Robin
(Merula viigraloria); Flicker ( Colaptes auratus luteus) and eight
Bluebirds (Sinlia sialis) at Ardniore on March 3, and stated that
he believed this to be an indication ot spring migration. Mr.
Rhoads differed from Mr. Baily. He regarded all these birds
as winter residents and thought that as yet no migratory move-
ment had occurred in the Delaware Valley; he further stated
that in all his experience this was the first season in which there
had not been marked migration previous to the present date.

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 83

March 21, 1907. Twenty-five members present. Mr. Hunt
described two trips made during the past summer, one to Lake
Sebago, Maine, and the other a canoe vo3'age up tlie Rancocas
Creek, N. J., and commented upon the bird life of the two
regions.

Mr. Relm spoke of the distribution, history and relative
abundance of West Indian Parrots and the extinction of several
species.

April 4, 1907. Twenty-five members present. Mr. Stone
gave a talk upon the winter homes of our commoner birds and
their probable lines of migration.

A letter from Mr. Harlow described the continued presence
of a pair of Short-eared Owls {Asio accipitrmiis) at Edge Hill
and their mating; all efforts to discover a nest failed.

April 18, 1907. Twenty-six members present. A letter was
read announcing the death of Mr. Fredk. N. Owen, an Associ-
ate, December 27, 1905. Mr. Owen had been absent from the
city for some years.

Mr. Wm. L. Baily described in detail the home life and
habits of the Night Hawk (Chordeiles virginianus) and the
Whip-poor-will (Aiitrostomus vociferus) illustrating his remarks
by some beautiful lantern slides.

May 2, 1907. Twenty-two members present. Mr. Harlow
described the nesting of a pair of Duck Hawks {Falco peregrinus
anatum) on the Nockamixon cliffs along the Delaware, near
Holland Sta. in Bucks Co., Pa., April IS, 1907. The nest was
inaccessible, but from the difficulty experienced in trying to
flush the female, he judged that she was incubating.

May 16, 1907. Seventeen members present. A general dis-
cussion was held on the \X\\d Pigeon (Eclopwtls migratorius) .
Mr. E. W. Woolman recalled a very large flock that he had
seen pa.ssing over Hestonville (now part of West Philadelphia)
in 1850. The last specimen he secured was in the Lazaretto
woods at Tinicum, Delaware Co., Pa., in 1869.

84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

In a letter l\Ir. Pennock stated that he had seen small flocks
every year at Kennett Square, Pa., from 1869 to 1873.

Mr. Stone presented a summary of specimens shot in eastern
Pennsylvania and New Jersey so far as known to him, viz:
Frankford, Phila., Pa., July, 1878, W. L. Collins.
Englewood, N. J., Sept., 187<S, F. M. Chapman.

Haddonfield, N. J., Mar. 22, 1879, W. L. Abbott.

Marple, Del. Co., Pa., Oct. 2, 1881, S. N. Rhoads.
Olney, Phila., Pa., Sept., 1885, G. S. Morris. •

Birmingham, Chester Co.,

Pa., Sept. 1, 1886, T. H. Montgomery, Jr.

West Goshen, Chester Co.,

Pa., Sept. 9, 1887,

Morristown, N. J., Oct. 7, 1893, A. B. Frost.

Canadensis, Monroe Co.,

Pa., Oct. 23, 1895, Geo. H. Stuart.

A mounted group of seven specimens just purchased by the
Academy of Natural Sciences was on exhibition. These were
known to have been secured in this immediate vicinity but were
without further data.

October S, 1907. Twenty-seven members present. The resig-
nation of Herbert L. Coggins from the secretaryship was ac-
cepted with regret and Chreswell J. Hunt was chosen for the
unexpired term. The failure of Mr. Coggins' health necessi-
tated an indefinite sojourn in the West.

Messrs. Stone and Keim described the "Bird Life of Garrett
County, Maryland." As guests of Mr. Herman Behr they
spent three days at Jennings, on the high mountains a few
miles south of the border of Somerset Co., Penna. Jlost of the
boreal birds of the Pennsylvania mountains occur at this point,
but the Cardinal {Cardinalis cardinalis) and Tufted Tit (Baeo-
lophhs bicolor) pushed much fartlier up than they do on the
Pennsylvania Alleghanics and often occur at least casually above
the boreal species where the conditions are favorable.

A Raven's nest previously located by Jfr. Behr was secured
for the club collection. The birds had for some reason deserted
it before the eggs were laid, though the nest was entirely com-

DKLAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 85

pleted. The Raven of this region is supposed to be Corvns corax
princifaUs.

Mr. Harlow recorded a flock of Black Terns {Hydrochelidon
nigra siirinamensis) on the Delaware river above Philadelphia
September 5; several were secured. Some Common Terns
{Sterna hirundo) were noticed at the same time.

Mr. Baily reported finding a White-throated Sparrow's nest
June 20 at Pocono Lake, Monroe Co., Pa.

October 17, 1907. Twenty-three members present. Mr.
Rhoads under the title of "Bird Glimpses in Gilbert White's
Country," described his experiences with British birds during
the past summer. He had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Bowdler
Sharpe at Selbourne. Mr. Rhoads considered that most of the
birds famed in literature were far overrated when studied apart
from their surroundings and their associations. The Starling
he considered as very justly debarred from America and a most
undesirable bird.

November 7, 1907. Twenty-tM'o members present. Mr. Isaac
P. Miller was elected an Associate and Mr. R. B. Simpson of
Warren, Pa., a Corresponding member.

Mr. Rehn described the birds observed while on an entomo-
logical collecting trip through southern New Mexico and Arizona
during July, 1907. Comments followed by Mr. Rhoads who
passed through the same country in 1891.

Mr. Morris stated that he considered that the Mourning Dove
was increasing about Olney, Pa., and Mr. Rhoads thought the
same might be said with reference to Haddonfield, N. J.

Noveraber 21, 1907. Fifteen members present. Mr. W. E.
Roberts read a paper on " Birds of Loon Lake, Franklin Co.,
N. Y," where he had spent July and August, 1907.

A letter from Mr. Strang reported the capture of a Saw-whet
Owl and Florida Gallinule at Camden, N. J.

December 5, 1907. Twenty-seven members present. John
D. Carter described "A Ten Days' Tramp Through the White

86 PROCEEDINGS OF TUE

Mountains. " The most interesting feature was his careful study
of the songs of the Thrushes. The Olive-backed and the Bick-
nell's were frequently seen and heard, and Mr. Carter stated
that the Pocono Mountain Thrush previously referred to as
possibly Bicknell's was unquestionably the Olive-backed.

December 19, 1907. Eighteen members present. Mr. Pen-
nock read a paper entitled "The South Shore of Indian River,
Delaware" (see antea, pp. 28-43).

William B. Evans reported a Cardinal feeding upon the
berries of the Virginia Creeper.

Bibliography for 1907

I. Ornithological Papers by Members of the Delaware Valley
Ornithological Club.

Harlow, Richard C. Peculiar Nesting of the Chat. Oologid,
Oct., 1907, p. 156.

Harlow, Richard C. Anent the Swamp Sparrow [large sets].
Oologist, Aug., 1907, p. 122.

Harlow, Richard C. Unusual Occurrence of the Short-eared
Owl in Pennsylvania. Auk, Oct., 1907, p. 438.

Holmes, Larue K. Birds Found within a Radius of Twelve
Miles of Summit, New Jersey. Wilson Bull., March,
1907, pp. 21-27.

Hunt, Chreswell J. A Screech Owl that Played Santa Claus.
Wilson Bull, Dec, 1907, p. 164.

Hunt, Chreswell J. August Birds of Lake Sebago, Maine.
Wihon Bull, March, 1907, pp. 16-19.

Hunt, Chreswell J. A Brown Creeper's Spiral Flight. Wil-
son Bull, March 1907, p. 31.

Hunt, Chreswell J. On Rubythroats. Wihon Bull, June,
1907, p. 64.

Miller, W. D. ^^^ An Owl Tragedy. [Syrnium varium nest
at Plainfield, N. J.]. Bird Lore, July-Aug., 1907, p.
173.

Rhoads, S. N. That Cinnamon Teal Record from Florida.
Auk, Oct., 1907, p. 435.

Rogers, Charles H. Birds observed on May 14, 1907, at Prince-
ton, N. J. [in article by Lynds Jones]. An anonymous
list of arrivals for spring, 1907, at Bloomfield, N. J.,
is also contained in this paper. Wilson Bull, Sept.,
1907, pp. 104-107.

Rogers, Charles H. Cedar Waxwings as Sapsuckers. Wilson
Bull, March, 1907, p. 31.

Sharples, Robt. P. Several articles on our Native Birds in the
Westchester Village Record for 1907.
(87)

88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Simpson, R. B. Questions, Notes and Comments [from War-
ren, Pa.]. Oologist, June, 1907, pp. 86-87.

Simpson, R. B. A Decoration-Day Trip [at Warren, Pa.].
Oologist, Sei)t., 1907, p. 133.

Stone, Witmer. Some Changes in the Current Generic Names
of North American Birds. Aulc, April, 1907, pp. 189-
199.

Stone, Witmer. Several papers on Types of Bird Genera in
Science for 1907.

Stone, Witmer. Reviews of the Ornithological Journals.
Bird Lore, July-Aug., 1907, p. 176, Sept. -Oct., p. 222.

Surface, H. A. Several Notes on Economic Ornithology in
the Zool. Bull., Penna. Dept. of Agriculture for 1907.

II. Additional Papers Relating to the Birds of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey and Delaware.

Abbott, Clinton G. Summer Bird-life of the Newark, New
Jersey, IMarshes. A2tk, January, 1907, pp. 1-11.

Abbott, Clinton G. American Coot (Fidica americana) Nest-
ing near Newark, New- Jersey. Avk, Oct., 1907, p. 436.

Allen, Mary P. An Attractive Visitor [Z). hiad-hurniae at
Hackettstown, N. J.]. Bird Lore, Sept. -Oct., 1907,
p. 216.

Burns, Frank L. The Ruffed Grouse (Bonnsa umhelhis) in
Pennsylvania. Wilson Bull., Dec, 1907, p. 157.

Burns, Frank L. Field Notes from Berwyn, Penna. [includes
dates of song periods]. Wilson Bid!., Dec, 1907, p. 163.

Burns, Frank L. Notes from Berwyn, Pa. [Seiurus molicilla;
Jfay 6., Helodromas solitarius, Aug. 8]. Wikon Bull.,
June, 1907, p. 73.

Burns, Frank L. Alexander Wilson in Bird Census Work
comparison of birds given as nesting in Bartram's Garden
by Wilson, and those found at Berwyn by Tiurns]. Wil-
son Bulletin, Sep., 1907, pp. 100-102.

Burns, Frank L. Notes on Chester County, Penna. Birds for
1905. Wilson Bull, March, 1907, p. 32.

C , J. N. A Wild Pigeon Fake. Forest and Stream [Re-

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 89

garding a newspaper report in W. Virginia, and com-
ment on its occurrence in Fayette Co. , Pa., in 1882-83],
Nov. 23, 1907, p. 811.

Campbell, E. W. [Records a pair of Buff-breasted Sandpipers
at Pittston, Pa.. Sept. 7.] Oologist, Oct., 1907, p. 156.

Crispin, Wm. B. [Describes two eggs of Wild Pigeon from
Potter Co., Pa.]. Oologist, Oct., 1907, p. 155.

A. L. L. Hunting without a Gun. [Notes on winter birds at
IMillhurst, N. J.]. Forest and Slreani, Feb. 23, p. 292;
also March 23, p. 454.

L , I. McC. Spring Warblers. [All were late at Engle-

wood, N. J. Hooded very scarce.] Forest and Stream,
Aug. 17, 1907, p. 254.

Miller, Richard F. The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Philadel-
phia County, Pa. Avk, April, 1907, p. 222.

Miller, Richard F. Singular Nesting Sites of the Fish Hawk
or Osprej' on telegraph pole.o, [Anglesea, not "Cape
May," N. J.] Oologist, Oct., 1907, p. 156.

Miller, Richard F. Nesting of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak in
Philadelphia County, Pa. A^^k, Oct., 1907, p. 442.

Miller, Richard F. Late Swallows at Philadelphia l^Rijmria
riparia, Sept. 30; Hirundo erythrogasira, Oct. 10]. Oolo-
gist, April, 1907, p. 60.

Miller., Richard F. Brief Notes on the Swamp Sparrow [at
Phila.]. Oologist, June, 1907, pp. 85-86.

Miller, Richard F. The Little Blue Heron in Philadelphia
County, Pa., in Spring. Auk, July, 1907, p. 338.

Miller, Richard F. The Black Tern at Philadelphia, Pa.
Auk, April, 1907, p. 211.

Miller, Richard F. [Query relative to albino eggs of Long-
billed Marsh Wren, referred to in previous paper.]
Oologist, Oct., 1907; p. 155.

Miller, Richard F. Nesting of the Carolina Chickadee in
Philadelphia County, Pa. Oologist, ]\[arch, 1907, pp.
41-42.

Pearson, Leonard S. A Recent Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Foli-
optila ccerulea) in Delaware Co., Pa. Auk, Oct., 1907,
p. 447.

90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Pearson, L. S. A Persistent Phoebe. Bird Lore, Mar.-Apr.,

1907, p. 83.
PiTCAiRN, Wm. G. [Letter on variation in abundance of birds

at Allegheny, Pa.]. Oologist, March, 1907, p. 41.
Sixteen Christmas Day Bird Lists. Bird Lore, Jan. -Feb., 1907,

pp. 25-27 (several by D. V. 0. C. members).
Various Records of the European Starling in N. J. Bird Lore,

Sept. -Oct., 1907, pp. 209-210.

Bird Club Notes

The Heermann portrait is from a photograph of a daguerreo-
type, and represents the naturahst fitted out as lie was on some
of Ilia western expeditions. That it was not taken ininiediateiy
upon his return is shown by the false beard which has been
added to heighten the effect. The photograph was kindly
loaned by Mr. Lee Siner, the present proprietor of Krider's
Gun Store, and belonged to his father, John Siner, the associate
and immediate successor of Krider, and like him, a close friend

of Heermann.

* * *

The Club held sixteen meetings during the year, with an
average attendance of twenty-four; fifty-one members attended
one or more meetings during the year.

* * *

Mr. August Koch, of Williamsport, Pa., for many years a
Corresponding Member of the Club, died suddenly on February
15, 1907, at Mohawk, Fla., where he was spending the winter.

He Avas born at Stuttgart, Germany, in 1837, and came to
this countr}' in 1850. He was interested in natural history
from boyhood, and learned tlie rudiments of taxidermy from
the curator of the Stuttgart Museum. He later developed great
skill in this pursuit, which he practiced as a pastime during an
active business career. The collection of mounted birds and
mammals which he prepared is one of the finest in the state.

Mr. Koch was a thorough sportsman, both in his love of
hunting and in his moderation in killing game. He was a
thoroughly reliable ornithologist and our best authority on the
birds of central Pennsylvania. As a friend he was kind and
generous, and always ready to aid those with kindred interests
who applied to him for information or assistance. Mr. Koch
was an Associate of the A. 0. U., and attended the first Phila-
delphia meeting in 1899.

The A. O. U. held its twenty-fifth stated meeting at the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, December 9-12,

f91)

92 PROCEEDIKGS OF THE

1907. Every effort wns made by the local committee to ensure
a meeting worthy of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founda-
tion of the Union, and as <i result there was a larger attend-
ance than ever before — 21 Fellows, 16 Members and 54 Associ-
ates — a total of 91.

The dinner was held at Boothby's Caf6 on the evening of
December 10, and the next evening there was a smoker at
the Academy. On Thursday afternoon, December 12, the
visiting members were taken to Bartram's Garden, and on the
13th a party was conducted to Audubon's house at Mill Grove.

Most of the local D. V. 0. C. members attended the sessions,
and Messrs. Burns, Miller, Sharpies, Surface and Todd, of our
correspondents, were present. Messrs. Kester, R. F. stiller,
Scoville, Street, Rawle, Dr. Tucker and Dr. Weygandt, and
Otto and Hermann Behr, of the correspondents, joined the
Union at this meeting.

Dr. Spencer Trotter presented a paper " The Ornithological
Background," C. J. Pennock one on "Some Additions to th.e
Birds of Delaware," Witnier Stone two on "Some Ornitho-
logical Doings of the Years 1850-55," and "The Value of
Color- Patterns as a Generic Character in Ornithologj'. "

W. E. Clyde Todd presented a paper "Notes on Wood-
peckers and their Plumage."

* * H:

At a meeting held at the Academy of Natural Sciences, April
4, 1907, the Pennsylvania Audubon Society was reorganized
under the original charter granted the Society in 1886. The
officers for the year 1907 are: President, Witmer Stone; Vice-
President, Nathaniel E. Janney; Secretary, Miss E. W. Fisher;
Treasurer, Wm. L. Bail3^ The Society's ofRce is now at 524
Walnut St., Room 22.

On May 2d Mr. William Dutcher addressed the Society on
" Recent Progress in Bird Protection."

* * *

The Club lost two officers during the year, Vice-President
Samuel C. Palmer having removed his residence to Cambridge,
Mass., while our versatile Secretary, Herbert L. Coggins, has
gone to Sacramento, California, for an indefinite stay.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS

Delaware Valley Ornithological Club.

1908.

WILLIAM A. SHRYOCK, President.

STEWARDSON BROWN, Vice-President.

CHRKSWELL J. HUNT, Secretar,/, 225 N. Fifty-third St., Pliila.

SAMUEL WRIGHT, Treasurer, Cousbolioclien, I'a.

ACTIVE MEMBERS.

William L. Baily, Ardmore, Pa Founder.

Stbwaudson Brown, 20 E. Penn St , Germantovvii, Pliila *1891

.John D. Carter, Ijansdowne, Delaware Co., Pa 1900

Herbert L. Coooins, 5025 McKean Ave., Germantown, Phila 1897

I. NoRRis De Haven, Ardmore, Pa 1891

William B, Evans, Moorestown, N. J 1K98

Henry W. Fowler, Holmesburg, Phila 1894

William E. Hughes, M. D,, 3945 Chestnut St., W. Phila 1891

Chreswell J. HcNT, 225 N. Fiftj'-third St., W. Phila 1902

Georqe Spencer Morris, Olney, Phila Founder.

Charles J. Pennock, Kennett Square, Pa. , 1895

James A. G. Rehn, 1918 N. Twentj-fiist St., Phila 1899

Saudkl N. Rhoads, Haddonlield, N. J Fouoder.

William A. Shryock, 209 S. Si.xth St., Phila 1891

WiTMKU Stone, Academy Nat. Sciences, Phila Founder.

Spencer Trotter, M. D., Swarthmore College, Delaware Co., Pa. Founder.
Samcel Wright, Con.'Jhohocken, Pa 1892

* Date indicates vear of election to Club.

( 93 )

94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS.

J. Harold Austin, Lansciowne, Delaware Co., Pa 1903

Paul C. Bkkwek, 261 W. Rittenhouse St., Germantown 1906

Ernest A. Bdti.eb, 3417 N. 19th St., Phila 1906

Charles W. Bdvinger, 911 N. Sixteenth St., Phila 1900

John E. Chamrerlin, 201 West End Trust Building, Phila 1904

Stirling VV. Cole, 116 N. Sixth St., Camden, N. J 1904

Francis R. Cope, Jr., Awbury, Germantown, Phila 1895

William J. Cre.sson, Swarthniore, Delaware Co., Pa 1899

Frank A. Eato.v, Lansdowne, Pa 1904

Arthur C. Emlen, Awbury, Germantown, Pa 1897

Ernest M. Evans, .\wbury, Germantown, Phila IH'.IO

George Forsyte, West Chester (Route 4), Chester Co., Pa 1891

Alfred Morton Githkns, 1337 Pine St., Phila 1895

Bartram W. Griffiths, 4024 Green St., W. Phila 1902

Rev. John H. Hackknberg, 4231 Paul St., Frankford, Phila 1903

Arthur F. Hauar, 626 Westview Ave , Germantown, Phila 1906

Samuel S. Haines, .M. D., Mill St. & Central Ave., Moorestuwn, N. J. . . 1901

Richard C. Harlow, Edge Hill, Pa . 1904

David E. Harrower, Swarthmore, Pa 1905

Kenneth Howie, 48 Seilgewick Ave., Germantown, Phila 1004

Charles Jack, M. D., Media, Pa 1906

William Johns, 1548 N. 61st St., Phila 1905

William W. Justice, Jr., Clapier St. & Wissahickon Ave., Germantown,

Phila 1893

Thomas D. Keim, 205 Radcliffe St., Bri.-^tol, Pa 1902

Raymond Kester, 1514 Chestnut St., Phila 1892

Nathan Kite, Moylan, Delaware Co., Pa 1898

M. Albert Linton, Haverford College, Pa 1905

Joseph B. Lodge, 3340 N. Sixteenth St., Phila 1900

Paul L. Lorrillikre, Collingdale, Del. Co., Pa 1904

David McCadden, 4 204 Powelton Ave., W. Phila 1892

Douglas McFarlane, 1805 Chestnut St., Phila 1906

Richard C. McMurtrie, 152 Carpenter St., (iermantown, Phila 1904

F. Guy Meyers, 1110 S. Forty-seventh St., W. Phila 1896

Isaac P. Miller, 409 Chestnnt St , Phila 1907

Wayne B. Morbell, 5521 Jefferson St., Phila 1905

Elmer Ondebdonk, 4309 Wyalusing Ave., Phila 1903

Clark J. Peck, 138 Chester Pike, Darby, Pa 1904

James F. Prendergast. M. D., 3833 Spring Garden St., W. Phila. . . . 1899

Francis W. Rawle, 211 S. Sixth St., Phila 1907

Charles J. Rhoads, Bryn Mawr, Pa 1890

George C. Roberts, Box 196, Sharon Hill, Pa 1906

William E. Roberts, George Sehool, Bucks Co., Pa 1901

Anthony W. Robinson, 409 Chestnut St., Phila 1898

DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 95

William B. Schecing, 3024 W. York St., Phila ... 18113

Samukl C. ScoviLLE, 400 Chestnut St., Phila 1907

C. Few Seiss, 1338 Spring Garden St., Phila 1892

Edwakd a. Selliez, 1317 N. Nineteenth St., Phila 1902

William J. Sehiull, Hiiverford, Pa 1891

Walter G. Sibley, 6G2G iMcGallum St., Gerniantown, Phila 1900

L. I. Smith, Jk., 3908 Chestnut St., W. Philn 1901

Walter Gordon Smith, 0870 r)re.\el Road, W. Phila 1898

Reynold A. Spaeth, Haverl'ord College, Pa 1901

John H- Steele, 4010 Spruce St., W. Phila., Phila 1903

William U. Strang, 277i Chestnut St., Camden, N. J 1907

J. Fletcher Street, Beverly, N. J 1903

Norman W. Swayne, Svvarthmore College, Pa 1906

Joseph W. Tatum, 5220 Parkside Ave., W. Phila 1892

William H. Trotter. Chestnut Hill, Phila 1809

Henry Tucker, M. D., 2000 Pine St., Phila 1906

Charles A. Voelker, Aldan, Delaware Co., Pa Founder.

Paul Vossberg, 1539 N. Allison St., Phila 1905

Charles S. Welles, Elwyn, Delaware Co., Pa. . . 1900

Cornelius Weygandt, Ph. D., Wissahickon Ave., below Frank St., Ger-
niantown, Phila 1891

A. L. Wheeler, Bryn Jlawr,